The Lorialet
by Nethene Khthon
Summary: Sarah's eldest, Faryn, is about to learn the deep secrets of the Labyrinth. Some reside in the past of her parents. The most dangerous hides in her heart. She must be strong enough to rescue her brother and avenge her mother before falling. Medium violenc
1. In Those Eyes

Disclaimer: Ukee, Faryn, Heather, Jack, Eric and Joshua, as well as the story itself, belong to me. The portrayal of Jareth that inspired my depiction of him is David Bowie's. Everything from the movie, any goblins not previously mentioned, and anything I forgot (probably), belongs to Jim Henson Studios, Brian Froud, or Terry Jones depending on where I got it from. I'm not doing this for money, and I don't have any!  
  
Also, any similarities to a five year old story entitled "Do You Love Me?" are purely intentional. This is the rewritten version of that story.  
  
This Story Exists Thanks to:  
  
*Genesis Grey, without whom I'd never have bothered to write this (again).  
  
*A woman I only know as Caillean Greywolf from way back when the Labyrinth ml's were only one. As I reread my old story, I realize just how kind people were to give me encouragement whatsoever!  
  
*And to Terry Jones and Brian Froud who's Goblin Companion inspired the labyrinth's madness in this story.  
  
o/~********~\o  
  
Sarah, formerly Sarah Williams, the last teenage girl to have grown within the house's bosom had suddenly found her sanity again one night, during her fifteenth year. Of course, the others of their kind did not see it that way. They saw Sarah as a girl who was confused, who had dreamed an experience and never let it go. In point of fact, Sarah was more sane than any around her. Her life, by human standards, had been one long traumatic experience. After her fanciful adventure, everyone treated her like a fragile doll. When one is treated in a way, one tends to that way, and after a time, Sarah began to live inside of her assumed madness. She had gone on to become a high school actress, and then a college theatre major on an English scholarship. So lost inside the waves of sanity was she that even when she did poorly, she received rolls. She had an air of lost fantasy that made her mere presence powerful enough for the stage.  
  
The ingenue eventually caught the attention of a wealthy investor. That led to marriage and children, and the divulging of a secret she had kept for a very long time. What Sarah never learned was that her husband, one Eric Talenka, had already known. Known, seduced, and possessed her for that very reason.  
  
It was his eyes that had drawn her to him. His brilliant devil blue eyes. Eyes she had longed to forget and possess throughout her life, since that secret - that night - had changed it forever. When she quietly admitted her strange story to him, Sarah had told Eric she believed she had been born that night, in those eyes. Created anew with passion for the arts, anything to get her close again to the sense of magic those thirteen hours had given her. Eric, of course, knew that as well.  
  
Four years later, they had a daughter. Four years after that, a son. Both times, she dreamed of the unending maze, and of Jareth. Both times Eric told their friends his wife was getting crazier. They all worried for the safety of the children. It wasn't until four years later still, that Eric was given his opening.  
  
Sarah woke from a dream, screaming. Eric was gone, and that was for the best. He always seemed to vanish on full moons, and Sarah attributed it to his religion. What didn't make sense, however, was that he kept her from speaking to their daughter whenever she woke from a dream about the labyrinth. When she woke, it was all she wanted to do. Tell Faryn, warn Faryn.  
  
Prepare Faryn.  
  
Eric, however, wanted the girl to have no knowledge whatsoever of her mother's 'craziness,' as he put it. It didn't make any sense. If it was just madness, then it could hurt nothing, Sarah reasoned. If it wasn't, the girl would be forewarned. Sometimes, though she feared to admit it, Sarah found herself wondering if she was as they said. If she was mad.  
  
None of that mattered when she woke from the dream, however. She knew only that Eric was gone, and she finally would have the chance to tell her daughter of the labyrinth, of Jareth, and of his threats.  
  
She rushed immediately to the child's room, stopping only long enough to don a robe to keep warm. Opening the door as silently as possible, she was surprised to find Faryn still awake, reading by flashlight under the covers. She smiled warmly as the girl scrambled to pretend she hadn't been disobeying her bedtime. The fret was needless. Sarah knew she should love both of her children equally, but at times Joshua was hard to understand, and always seemed to shine on his father or uncle more. Eric had come from a prestigious family in which men raised men and women raised women. His heavy hand in their family life had seen that repeated.  
  
Sarah believed that she would have favoured Faryn all the same, regardless of Eric's involvement. They were so alike. Faryn had her wide and innocent eyes, her hunger for anything chimerical. Her honest and passionate belief that those things were, indeed, real. It was always Faryn who knew what to say when her mother was sad, and it was to Sarah that the child came for comfort.  
  
"Momma?" Faryn's quiet voice pierced her musings, waking Sarah from her reverie. Her staring had doubtless worried the child.  
  
"Hey, there," she greeted, slipping in and closing the door behind her. "What are you doing up so late, my little Lorialet?" She glided through the room, settling on the bed next to her daughter.  
  
In a guilty rush, Faryn tumbled a small red book into her mother's lap, speaking almost too quickly to understand. "I'm sorry.Ididn't takeit.Ifounditonmybed.Iwasgoingtogiveitback,Ijusthadtoreaditonemore time! Here, I'm sorry."  
  
Laughing quietly, she put one finger to her lips and picked up the book. "Shhh, we don't want your father looking if he happens home early, do we?" She turned the book over in her hands, and chuckled again. "The Labyrinth. No wonder you wanted to keep it." She smiled at her daughter, brown eyes sparkling. "It was my favourite book, too. I thought Eric had thrown it away years ago, though."  
  
Faryn dropped her head guiltily. "He did. But I found it, and Joshie said you had read it to him once. You never read it to me," he voice dropped to a near whisper. "I just wanted to know what it was. I'm sorry I took it."  
  
"Oh, my beautiful dove," Sarah crooned. She wrapped her arms around her daughter, rocking them gently. "You didn't take it, you saved it. And I'm very happy you did." She kissed the top of Faryn's head, giving the girl another warm squeeze before letting her go. She put the book back into her daughter's surprised hands. "And since you hid it so well, I want you to keep it."  
  
Faryn stared at her mother, her mismatched eyes wide in shock. "Serious?"  
  
Sarah stroked her hand through soft hair, so like her own aside from the curls Eric's heritage had added. "I'm very serious." She kissed her daughter's forehead, nuzzling noses with the girl. "Just don't let your father find out."  
  
"Never," Faryn laughed, fiercely hugging her mother.  
  
"Now, I'm afraid it's time you went to sleep." Sarah stood, pulling the covers back as she went.  
  
Resolutely, Faryn rolled under them, allowing herself to be tucked in while she tried with all of her nine-year old might not to scowl. When she was warmly squared away, Sarah settled onto the edge of the bed once more.  
  
"But first," she told the girl with a mischievous smile. "I'm going to tell you a story about that book, and why your father threw it away."  
  
Sarah felt her heart lighten and float away at the image of her delighted daughter, then. Tucked into her star speckled dark comforter, with the light of the moon spilling onto her brilliant smile. Faryn's gray eye seemed darker with the light on the right side of her face, while the blue one seemed to shine in the shadows. Sarah was forcibly reminded of a very different set of mismatched, blue, eyes.  
  
"Once upon a time," she began somberly. "There was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby. She was practically a slave in her own home - or so she thought.." And Sarah told Faryn the story she had only told to her brother and her husband. This time, she told the story for her daughter, not her sanity.  
  
Quietly finishing, Sarah tucked the very sleepy girl in once more, kissing her forehead. She felt different, somehow. Complete. As if the story had bubbled inside, tormenting her, for all this time just to be told to her beautiful daughter.  
  
Smiling contentedly, she slipped into the hallway, making her way to her own room. She frowned for a moment, realizing that she had forgotten to warn Faryn of Jareth's threat. His voice from her dream came loudly into her ears, making her stumble at the top of the stairs.  
  
"I will take her from your world, Sarah. She will never return."  
  
"No," she argued to nothing. The next day was Faryn's ninth birthday, and Sarah had made her a gift that would keep her safe, no matter what. She had learned a few useful things from Eric, and had put them to good use. A tiny braid of her hair, held together by her dried blood and tears, sealed safely within a silver clock. A clock with thirteen hours and hands made of stone, designed to be worn about the girl's neck on a chain of iron plated silver.  
  
"Sarah?" Eric's voice came from the floor below, startling her into motion.  
  
She had only gotten as far as their bedroom door when he found her. "Sarah, what are you doing out of bed?"  
  
The rest of the night did not go well.  
When Faryn climbed out of bed that morning, she was happy. She had fallen asleep to the beautiful sound of her mother's voice. And she had told her of the labyrinth! A fantastic gift. Today was also the day she would turn nine. Which meant that she would see her grandfather, her Uncle Toby, and her Aunt Heather. And get cake. Faryn grinned into the sunlight as she tugged on her favourite shirt. She knew it would be a good day.  
  
But it was not meant to last.  
  
She raced downstairs as soon as she was dressed, nearly tripping over her brother who was headed to the other end of the house. "Hi, Joshie," she squeaked in passing. She was bent on the kitchen, where she knew her mother would be. Sarah had always insisted on baking her children's birthday cakes, herself.  
  
Upon finding her, Faryn was forced to frown. Her proud, beautiful, mother was dressed in rumpled blue jeans and a distressed white dressing shirt. Her ever perfect hair was slightly tangled and loose about her face. As Sarah crossed the kitchen to reach the sugar, Faryn saw her limp with her right side.  
  
"Momma, what's wrong?"  
  
Startled, Sarah nearly dropped the sugar jar. She set it on the counter next to her mixing bowl and beamed at her daughter. She knelt before Faryn, carefully keeping the left side of her face concealed in her hair. "Nothing, dovey. I want to give you your present before anyone else. Okay?"  
  
Faryn nodded. While Sarah turned her head to retrieve something from the apron pocket, Faryn pushed the hair from her mother's face. Around her eye, a large and sickly patch of skin was mottled black and purple. Her eye was nearly swollen shut with the wait of the bruise, and there was a thin but jagged cut across her cheek. Faryn placed her hands on her mother's cheeks as Sarah turned back to face her.  
  
"Oh, momma, who did this? I'll make poppa beat them up!"  
  
Sarah grimaced, and Faryn displayed the perceptive abilities she had inherited from her fairer parent. "Poppa did it?" The girl couldn't help but gasp and stare.  
  
Sarah shook her head, trying to ignore the wetness creeping down her cheeks, even as Faryn wiped it away. "Momma."  
  
Sarah interrupted her daughter, pushing the girl's arms away. She put the chain of her gift over the girl's head, and pushed the pendant into Faryn's shirt, letting the clock thump quietly against her chest. "It's a charm, my little Lorialet. It will keep you safe from many things, as long as you wear it." She put a hand to her mouth then, trying to keep from crying as she looked at the worried expression on Faryn's face. "Even your father, baby-doll," she added in a whisper.  
  
Faryn flung her arms about her mother's neck, holding onto her tightly. "I won't let poppa hurt you again, momma - I promise!" She heard her mother crying quietly as her arms hugged back.  
  
"I love you, my little Lorialet," Sarah whispered. "I love you with all my heart."  
  
On an impulse, Faryn looked up to find her father standing in the kitchen archway. Terrified, but valiant, she put herself between her parents, glowering at Eric.  
  
For his part, Eric managed to remain calm for a few moments. Then he bellowed, "What did you tell her, Sarah? Did you tell her it was all my fault?" He advanced on them, his eyes gone wide and wild.  
  
Faryn didn't move.  
  
"Did you tell her that you didn't bring it on yourself by disobeying me," Eric demanded, pushing Faryn roughly out of the way without a second glance. She hit a cabinet soundly, and had to shake her head several times before clearing her vision.  
  
Eric then grabbed Sarah by the shoulders, heaving her up and forcing her to stand on her toes to keep from falling again. "What lies have you been feeding the child with? What did you tell her," he screamed in her face, dropping her abruptly.  
  
He turned to Faryn, who had just regained her feet. He snatched her arm, dragging her to him. She had to scream as she felt something pop in her wrist. "What did she give you, hmm?" Eric ripped the chain out of Faryn's shirt, tearing the collar as it came. "Something to stop me, is it?" He palmed the clock, and snarled as it burned his hand.  
  
Next Faryn knew, the sound of her father's knuckles colliding with her face echoed through the kitchen. She felt her body shake as she came to rest under the kitchen table, her head lolled to one side. Faryn could see the window from where she lay. It wasn't sunny anymore.  
  
Her father's voice came from the other side of the room, making her turn her head. She was instantly dizzy again, but could still hear clearly.  
  
"First you turn the girl against me, and now you try to kill me, Sarah? Have you forgotten your place? A slave should never raise her hand to her master."  
  
Just as Sarah screamed, Faryn's vision began to clear. For years later she would wish it hadn't. Eric knelt over her mother, demanding that she obey him, as something flashed repeatedly above him. Sarah screamed, and screamed again, crying between screams and pleading with her husband to stop. She swore that she loved him, promised to obey him, but nothing stopped him.  
  
He kept bringing the knife down into her.  
  
Again.  
  
And again.  
  
Someone else was screaming, and Faryn thought it was herself.  
  
Another voice came, and everything changed.  
  
"Eric, get away from Sarah," Toby shouted from the other side of Faryn. She heard a gunshot, and her Aunt Heather sobbing out their address, as Eric jerked violently into the cabinet below the sink. A third male voice from somewhere near her feet, told Eric that if he moved, the man would kill him. At that point, however, Faryn wasn't paying attention anymore. She was crawling to her mother.  
  
Dimly, the voices came.  
  
"Faryn, come here."  
  
"Heather, don't go any closer. Jack, if he so much as twitches, you shoot him in the head."  
  
"She should have listened to me."  
  
"Momma! Momma!"  
  
Faryn crawled onto her mother's chest, tears blurring her view, making Sarah's face clean and untouched. "Momma? Momma don't go."  
  
"Faryn," Sarah sighed. She gently stroked Faryn's hair behind her ear, running fingers over her cheek. "My little Lorialet."  
  
"Momma!" Faryn could find no other words as she sobbed. She gathered her mother's hair in her hands, pulling Sarah into her lap. "I love you."  
  
She ran her fingers tiredly through the girl's hair. "I love you so much," Sarah whispered, staring into her daughter's mismatched eyes. Her hand fell, tangling in the mussed locks. But her eyes never left Faryn's.  
  
Faryn noticed the window, and the rain looking in at her.  
There was a thunderstorm the day Sarah Talenka was laid to rest. Eric Talenka was sentenced to life in a maximum security asylum, with absolutely no custody or visitation of his children. Toby and Heather Williams adopted Joshua Talenka and his sister. But Faryn would be forever distant from them, having learned that the world of her father would never be happy, with such memories to haunt her. 


	2. The Gateway

The Gateway  
  
Spinning around the glade as though she were at a ball, Faryn barely noticed the snowy white owl perched upon the white monolith in the center of the clearing. She gave only the slightest glance at the owl that watched her with eyes too intent to really belong to something so innate. Faryn was much more involved with the careful steps of a spinning waltz, and going faster and faster. The tattered edges of the amateur dress swirled around her feet, getting spots of mud on it even though she was very careful to avoid the puddles. The creme dress was old; it had been her mother's and Faryn had loved it well.  
  
She stared at the raging sky as she spun. She couldn't help but giggle as she realized it was going to rain, it always came when she needed comfort, and today she needed it more than ever.  
  
It was her birthday.  
  
Abruptly, she bumped into the stone bench, falling to sit on it. Too dizzy to go on, she caught her breath and stared up at the owl, not realizing just how closely its eyes watched her. On a sudden impulse, she began to recite the poem from her mother's book.  
  
"Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here,  
  
To the castle beyond the goblin city, to take back the child that you have stolen.  
  
For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great.  
  
You have no power over me."  
  
The owl quirked it's head to one side, feathers turning up indignantly about it's neck. Lightning flashed, and the owl took off in a mad fright. Faryn shook her head sadly, whispering, "Poor thing." She pulled her skirt into her lap, unconsciously, and turned her gaze back to the darkening sky. The clouds rolling in made the storm inside of her calm. She fingered the tiny silver clock inside of her dress absently, pulling it out to gaze at the hands. They hadn't moved in all the time she'd had it. At times, she felt like them, suspended in that moment. Thinking again of all the ways she could have changed what had happened.  
  
However child-like she acted at times, Faryn had grown into an intelligent adult. She knew there was nothing she could have done. That didn't stop her from wishing, once a year, that there had been.  
  
The thunder came, spurring the girl into motion. Somberly, she crossed the park her mother had often played with her in. She brushed through the trees that separated the happy family park from the cold black gate of the cemetery in a daze. She pressed one side open, leaping carefully across a puddle that had formed there from the morning's rain. Stealing silently and quickly from one dry patch to another, she reached Sarah's gravestone.  
  
Crouching before it, Faryn stroked the stone ears of a rabbit that sat calmly beside a smiling faery child. The statue was half Faryn's size, and hadn't been a part of the grave site originally. Ever-practical Heather had dealt with the majority of the details surrounding Sarah's funerary arrangements. She had picked out the simple stone plate that sat in the ground above her mother's coffin. She had engraved it plainly, "Sarah Talenka; Loving mother and sister." It was Faryn who, a week later, had found the garden statue of the faery girl holding a book. Then, after begging her Uncle to buy it for her, had taken it to the grave in her brother's red wagon.  
  
Tugging a stone-carved crown of leaves from her sleeve, she put it atop the faery's head, then dropped her hand to run her fingers over it's cheek. "Happy birthday, Momma," she said softly. Leaning over, she kissed the stone forehead. "I suppose you wouldn't have let us put forty-five candles on a cake for you, anyway." She laughed while pressing fingers to eyes to ebb the tears. "I'd better get back. Aunt Heather'll worry. But I'll come tonight, and read you a story, all right?" Faryn ran her hand over the immobile hair of the faery before breaking into the return skip-and-dash she needed to reach the gate cleanly. From the arch she waved back, "Bye momma!"  
  
A flash in the sky reminded Faryn that she should be on her way. She could just picture Aunt Heather barring her from the house when she was sopping wet. The thunder came as she crossed the bridge back into downtown, and the rain was on it's heels. Halfway through the backyards and alleyways, Faryn realized she could get no wetter. She slowed to a fast walk to enjoy the rain, smiling into the clouds as they flashed and thundered.  
  
Having taken the long way around, she hadn't expected any weirdoes. Yet, the rise and fall of an engine following her made her steps longer. The worries were put to rest when the driver called out, "Ho, there, soaking Siren. Looking for a ride?"  
  
"Uncle Jack," Faryn exclaimed, whirling around. Sure enough, the familiar blue eyes grinned back at her from under the perfectly groomed black waves of hair. She hadn't seen him in the year she'd been at college, and for some reason his crooked nose was very comforting. Jack wasn't actually her uncle, of course. He had been Toby's partner since they had become detectives ten years earlier, which made him just as family as Heather was. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on vacation until Friday?"  
  
Jack laughed. "It was supposed to be a surprise, but Toby sent me out to find you while he finished up some paperwork. So, c'mon, I'll give you a ride the rest of the way."  
  
Faryn shook her head, grinning. "Thank you, but it's two blocks away, and I'm too soaked to make much difference. I like the rain."  
  
Jack shrugged, rolling his eyes. "All right. Suit yourself, silly girl. Want me to grab some clothes for you so you don't track puddles all over Heather's clean house?"  
  
Faryn nodded emphatically. "Please. I've a set laid out on my bed, already."  
  
"We'll be waiting then."  
  
She waved as the car disappeared over the hill. Once it had gone, Faryn noticed the white owl perched on a mailbox across from her.  
  
"Back again, are you," she asked, smirking at it. After a moment, she realized that it wasn't the same owl. It was a yellowed version of the same kind of bird. "Sorry," she apologized, heading up the hill herself. "Thought you were someone else." When she crossed too near it, the owl fluttered into the air, screeching something that sounded remarkably like a word. "Bye," she chuckled, slightly startled by the sudden flight.  
  
Only when she'd reached her driveway did her mind discern the word the owl had uttered. Faryn spun madly around again, searching the sky. She swore it had spoken and said, "Lorialet." The owl was nowhere to be seen, and Faryn was left staring into a dripping sky.  
  
"Hey there, daydreamer," Jack called from the doorway. "You can't gather rainwater by looking at it, so get inside before you catch cold."  
  
In a dash, she tried to hug Jack, but he caught her lightly by the wrists, and turned her toward the foyer bathroom. "Not until you have dried clothes on. Shoo, go on."  
  
While she changed, Faryn heard her Aunt Heather come into the entryway. She was playfully badgering Jack into going to the store to pick up last minute supplies when Faryn emerged, flinging her arms around a very unsuspecting man.  
  
"I'm so glad you came!"  
  
"Happy birthday," Jack hugged her back, laughing. "Me, too. I only have one question."  
  
Faryn released him, smirking. "Oh?"  
  
"Isn't that black bra a bit flashy for a single girl?"  
  
Heather and Faryn rapped him lightly on the shoulders at the same time.  
  
"Oh, Jack. Stop flirting with the girl, she's half your age!"  
  
Everyone laughed. "So, how does it feel to be nineteen, birthday girl?"  
  
"Ugh, Uncle Jack," Faryn rolled her eyes. "It would feel better if I were safely in my dorm room, and away from you crazies!"  
  
"Well then, I expect you to act like a responsible adult, and not go anywhere that isn't upstairs," Heather instructed, tugging on the coat she'd been holding. "I'm going to pick up Toby, and Jack is going to be a gentleman and go to the grocery for me."  
  
Serious again, Jack shook his head. "I told you, Heather, I can't."  
  
"But you didn't tell me why."  
  
"I'd rather not discuss it in front of Faryn, if you catch my drift," he insisted, his eyed widening and shifting to the side meaningfully.  
  
Faryn understood, but Heather obviously didn't as she insisted, "I'm sure none of your little inefficiencies will embarrass the girl any more than she already is."  
  
Jack sighed, shrugging in defeat. "Since you won't let it drop; I told Toby I would go to the airport to pick up Faryn's roommates, after I made sure she wasn't hanging out in the rain."  
  
The birthday child squeaked in delight. "They're coming! They said they couldn't!"  
  
Heather looked shamefully at the two of them. "Toby invited them as a surprise. I'm sorry I spoiled it."  
  
"That's fantastic! I've got to get out this summer's photos," Faryn squealed as she retrieved her soiled clothes and raced up the stairs.  
  
"Don't come downstairs," her aunt hollered up after her.  
  
"All right!"  
  
Faryn dropped the clothes in the hallway hamper, and skidded into her room, knocking over her brother as he dashed out of it. She barely caught a glimmer of red in his hands, before he had stood and hidden it behind him.  
  
"Er, hi, Faryn. Was just. um.. opening your window.." Joshua lied badly. He was blond, scrawny, and mischievous. And Faryn could see the reflection of the red of the book on the white wall beside them.  
  
"Joshie, if you don't give mother's book back right now, I'll say the words," she threatened, as serious as lightning.  
  
"As if," he rolled his eyes, running for Toby and Heather's room. It was the only one with a lock, though they were forbidden from entering. She reached it just a second before he slammed it closed, with just enough time to pull her hand out of the door jamb lest it be cut off.  
  
After shouldering the door to be sure it was locked, Faryn started to pound on it. "Joshua Lincoln Talenka, if you do not open the door this second, and give me back my book, I will kick your butt from here to kingdom come!"  
  
"Oh, right," the boy droned from the other side. "I thought you were going to wish me away. If you keep changing your threats, sis, I'm never going to believe you."  
  
"Fine," Faryn said, laughing. "You want me to, I will.  
  
"I wish the goblins would come and take you away!"  
  
Joshua's voice came shakily through the door, "I didn't mean it, Faryn."  
  
She heard him click the lock off, and turn the handle to open the door, but decided to go through with it, anyway. "Right now!"  
  
The handle snapped back into place, and the door swayed open just a bit as a flash of lightning illuminated the dark room through the slit.  
  
No one was standing in the way.  
  
"Joshie?" Faryn pushed gently against the door, and felt her throat dry out when it swung easily inward, knocking quietly against the wall behind it. Thunder followed it with a louder crack.  
  
No one was standing in the room at all.  
  
Just to be sure, she looked behind the door, anyway. Sniggers erupted behind her, making Faryn spin around and slam the door closed in fright.  
  
No one was behind her.  
  
"Josh?" Forgetting all about the light switch, Faryn picked apart the dark room with her eyes. The paintings on the wall were undisturbed. There were no shadows behind the sheer curtains that hid the balcony doors. The closet was just next to the doorway, however, and the laughter could have come from there.  
  
Flinging open the doors only revealed that the snickering was coming from the other side of the room, however. "Joshua," she intoned, stepping lightly around the bed. "When I find you, I'm going to tickle you until you can't breathe anymore." She leapt around the bed with a shout, but no one was crouched there.  
  
Lightning flashed again, and this time the thunder was right behind it.  
  
Completely expecting her brother to erupt from under the bed and scare her half to death, Faryn crouched beside the four-poster, and flung the bed skirt out of the way. "Gotcha!"  
  
Only, there wasn't anyone there. The snickers came again, this time, all around her. There was more than one thing in there, she realized. Faryn was beginning to think her brother wasn't among them. She flung herself up on her knees, and became paralyzed in two seemingly giant eyes.  
  
Perched upon the bed beside her, clutching the blankets in two, tiny, clawed hands, was a wide eyed and furry beast. It couldn't have been more than a foot tall from ear tip to toe. It was covered mostly in dark blue fluffy fur, but at joints and on the forepaws, Faryn could make out something shiny she thought to be scales. It's hind legs were twice the size of it's forelegs, and it's ears were cat like and half the size of it's head. The poor thing was so paralyzed with fear that it was shaking. It's dark, shiny eyes seemed to be bulging out of its face. The mouth was lipless, more like a cat's than a human's, but opened in fear none the less.  
  
So frightened it seemed that Faryn felt calm in response. She reached her hand out to the creature, whispering, "It's all right." In turn, it raised one clawed paw as if to attack, but both girl and beast were frozen in place as they were forcibly reminded of the storm. The balcony doors swung inward violently, and Faryn jumped up to shut them again. A huge bird stopped her, swooping in and attacking with it's massive wings. She raised her arms to protect from the striking beak, but it forced Faryn back from the doors. Strong wind and bird were then gone as suddenly as they had come.  
  
When Faryn dared to lower her arms, she was greeted with a sight that made her eyes nearly fall out of her head.  
  
In the doorway, his arms propped regally on his hips, stood the Goblin King exactly as her mother and the book had described him. His eyes were mismatched shades of blue, his features aquiline, and his hair a white blond frothy mess atop his head.  
  
From neck to toe, he was dressed in varying shades of black. He wore a scalded black breastplate embedded with a three pronged symbol, point up. Under that, the edges of a black tunic were barely visible. He seemed to be wearing black leggings and boots of some scaled creature's hide. What made the seeing difficult, of course, was the black cape he wore. It was made of the night sky on the inside, and feathers on the out, and not at the same time.  
  
Her only response, of course, was one of shock as she dropped her arms and jaw. "Oh, shit." 


	3. Enter the King

Enter the King  
  
When she swore, Jareth's eyebrows raised in mock surprise. His arrogant smirk was unchanged. "Well, well," was all he said. Children these days, he mused to himself.  
  
Blinking several times, Faryn regained her composure, smoothing her hands down the front of her white blouse. Were it not for the curl of her hair and the colours of her eyes, Jareth would have believed it to be her mother standing before him. The clothes were the same. The broach, the nervous bravery, even the colours of the room were all the same. Of course, the room was no surprise.  
  
"Where's Josh," she demanded, spoiling the illusion. Sarah had been more afraid of him. Still, the likeness was remarkable.  
  
"Faryn. You know very well where he is," Jareth remarked. Beneath the condescending glower, he winced over the reused words.  
  
She sighed, ducking her head away from him. "I don't suppose you'll believe me if I said I didn't mean it."  
  
Jareth let out his nasal laugh. "No, you didn't," he stated matter-of- factly. "Did you?"  
  
Faryn blinked at him a bit more, before giving him an odd look. "But I've wished him away hundreds of times before," she stumbled.  
  
Her gray and blue eyes held such a desperate look of confusion that Jareth found himself answering before he realized it. Then, since it would look as if he'd made a mistake if he stopped, he did as any royal would. He pretended he'd intended just that to occur. "You never wished it when he was in this room, did you?"  
  
Faryn's expression shifted then, closing to him as she adopted a look of cool distaste. "So you'd answer anyone who wished from this room, then."  
  
It wasn't a question, yet Jareth felt like answering it all the same. "Not just anyone, Faryn," he reached his gloved hand to touch her cheek. She flinched away at the last moment, and he finished, "Only the pretty ones." The goblins stashed in the room chortled, but the brunette didn't look around.  
  
He laughed at her sneer, putting on his arrogant facade again.  
  
"Give him back," Faryn demanded of him.  
  
"What's said, is said," Jareth parodied himself, smiling condescendingly at her all the while.  
  
"Please," she sighed distractedly. "Then I'll get him back myself. You're no match for me, Jareth," she added a smirk of her own for emphasis.  
  
The Goblin King found himself forced to restrain a natural flirtatious response. Instead, he arched one delicate brow, asking, "Isn't that my line?"  
  
The girl gave him a mocking look of distress, tittering, "Mine, now."  
  
A single snicker drew his attention to a dark shadow just behind Faryn's right thigh. A shadow he had dismissed lightly before, and only now noticed to be a goblin not in hiding. His hand snapped out for it, but Faryn was faster. She swept the blue goblin into her arms, then took two steps back.  
  
"Be a dear," Jareth implored in a sickly-sweet voice, "And give me that repulsive little thing."  
  
Faryn cuddled the goblin closer to her, giving it a soft look that seemed to promise protection. "No."  
  
Jareth pulled his amused smile on top of the jealousy he felt. "If you don't give her to me, you'll have to keep her." He said, amazing himself at the obvious hint in his voice.  
  
She glanced down at the female goblin and then back at him, surprise plain in her eyes. "Her?" She quickly recovered and glared at him once more, but her strange eyes seemed confused. In blue he found the depth of her indignation clearly pouring on him. From the gray, she seemed to be. enjoying the exchange.  
  
She stiffened her neck and cradled the little goblin closer. "Then I'll take her with me." Something drained out of her in that moment, he watched the struggle in her eyes with wonder. At last, she dropped her false face of contempt and stared at him with open curiosity and delight. "Does she have a name?"  
  
Jareth smiled genuinely. He found himself thinking that she looked far lovelier when she asked things instead of demanded them. "Yes, Ukee. She's rather a disappointment as a goblin, but I'm sure you'll love her." He almost wanted to stab himself for the last remark as he remembered his words to another goblin.  
  
Come, come, hogbrain, are you loosing your head over a girl?  
  
At least he had said something to that effect. He was almost certain he knew what the wart had been thinking. Instead of letting his slip show, he covered it with impatience. "We are wasting time."  
  
"Yes of course, we must hurry along now. Wouldn't want to waste the precious King's time, now would we, Ukee," she asked of the blue goblin, scratching its exposed belly as she spoke. Ukee let out a half growl, half giggle before noticing the look on her King's face and falling silent.  
  
He was towering above her when Faryn looked up again. Jareth didn't miss a beat when he felt victory at her sharp intake of breath. His presence weighed on her, forcing her a step back.  
  
"Yes, Faryn. Fear me. Remember that I am King, and I hold your fate in my hands from this moment forth."  
  
The girl raised her chin to him in defiance, but her arms tightened about the goblin like a favoured stuffed toy.  
  
"I'd offer you your dreams," Jareth said, calling a crystal to his fingertips. He held it before her eyes, continuing, "But we both know the result would be the same." He tossed the clear ball into the air, and it popped into nothingness, as another rolled down his opposite arm and onto his fingers. "Instead, I offer my help. I can protect you from the Labyrinth, and guide you along your mother's footsteps."  
  
Faryn stared at the crystal, her eyes so clouded that even the Goblin King couldn't read them. He took a step closer to her, while she was dazed.  
  
"You want it, don't you," he taunted her, forcing his voice calm even as his breath threatened to become thin with hunger. He stole closer still to her, the crystal nearly the only thing separating them.  
  
She tore her eyes from the orb, and smirked into his face. "And in exchange Josh comes home, but I stay in your castle forever, and ever, and ever? Ha. Not on your life. I can beat you on my own, thank you very much."  
  
"Such a pity," he whispered breathily against her cheek, his eyes half lidded. Instantly, Jareth's sneer returned, and he demanded, "Are you certain? Look on my Labyrinth," he ordered, stepping to her side, and flaring his cape out to unveil his lands as she looked.  
  
A few awed paces forward brought Faryn willingly into the Underground. The Goblin King nearly licked his lips in victory. He cautioned himself to be patient, however. He hadn't won. Yet.  
  
"Good goddess," she sighed in amazement. "It's huge." Jareth watched curiously as her eyes paused on the shimmering shell that encompassed the Labyrinth. Doubtless, it hadn't appeared in any of her stories.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"It is a spell that keeps the creatures of the Labyrinth from leaving."  
  
Faryn looked taken aback. He was certain that she had been told Sarah's friends had come to visit her, but abruptly stopped. "Why would you cast such a horrible thing?"  
  
"I would not. Eric would."  
  
"But you. Wait, Eric? My father?"  
  
For once, Jareth didn't have to fake the look of disgust and hate that crossed his face. "For all his power, you father," he said the word venomously, "hasn't the ability to control me. However." Jareth sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "He sealed it in his human blood, and I am forbidden from breaking it."  
  
"Forbidden? You mean you can't," Faryn chuckled triumphantly.  
  
"Even the omnipotent have rules to which they must adhere, fledgling," the King snapped before he caught his temper. He'd forgotten how much Eric Talenka upset him. It would not happen again, Jareth vowed. "Regardless, you'll have to break it to get it, so it shan't be a problem for long."  
  
"What does my father have to do with any of this," Faryn asked, waving her arm across the Labyrinth.  
  
"A good deal, actually," Jareth sneered. "You'll learn a lot of things in the Labyrinth. Not all of which will be gentle lessons." He held the crystal up to her again, dropping his gaze alluringly. "You may need my help, Faryn. I'll offer it to you only once more."  
  
Faryn shook her head smartly, and Jareth shrugged his to one side in mock regret. "Such a pity."  
  
"Besides, your majesty, if you brought me here to break my father's spells, shouldn't you let me do it?"  
  
The Goblin King let his nasal laugh loose again. "My little dove," he mocked her, "I believe you have a confidence issue. It is plain to even the goblin in your arms that I brought you here for no other reason than that I find you insatiably attractive." Jareth waited long enough to see her eyes widen before adding, "I would waste my time on nothing less."  
  
When she failed to respond with anything more than a few startled blinks, Jareth laughed, shaking his head. "You have thirteen hours in which to solve my Labyrinth, and your heritage, or your brother becomes one of us, forever." He faded into the wind as he finished, ending with only a laugh. 


	4. Blood Magic

A/N: Thank you, so much!, to everyone who has read this, and especially to those who have reviewed this. I'm happy that anyone has the stomach to read what I write. Reviews are very encouraging! They remind me that I'm supposed to be writing, and keep me on track with what I need to improve. So again for emphasis: Thank yer, thank yer, thank yer!  
  
And uber-thanks to my loverly beta, Genesis Grey!  
  
Quaint Note: this is the chapter that proves I should let things sit for a few days. It used to be two chapters, and in revising them into one, I was able to put to work more of my 'useless' faerie knowledge! Enjoy. : )  
  
o/~*************~\o  
  
Blood Magic  
  
As she trod down the hill, Faryn tried to remember everything Eric had ever taught her of his religion of magic. He had made quite a point of instructing her, and only now did she wonder why. Placing Ukee on her shoulder as she pondered, she was startled to find the goblin had a very long tail, which it wrapped loosely around her neck.  
  
Faryn found herself laughing in spite of herself, and very glad for the critter's company. She scratched Ukee on the head as they neared the shining barrier, and the goblin purred in return.  
  
Then she set to staring at the shining wall. Crouching beside it, Faryn found tiny symbols burned into the ground where the shield met it. Magic circles, she had learned, needed some sort of physical mark to create them. If one were to upset this mark, the circle would fall. Shrugging, she reached to wipe a few symbols away, and squeaked in shock as the barrier cut her. A moment later, she was bent over, heaving everything she hadn't digested onto the ground, as her body was wracked with an overwhelming sense of hunger. Ukee made worried chirps in her ear.  
  
When she recovered, Faryn hurried quickly from the spot, patting her goblin on the head comfortingly.  
  
"Sarah!"  
  
The sudden cry made Faryn stumble, but she righted herself, peering through the odd wall to see who had called out. She was barely able to make out a very short man - or at least she thought it was a man. It could have been a goblin or the dwarf her mother had told her about.  
  
"Oh, it's you," he scoffed at her. "That's a bad illusion, Eric. I wouldn't use it."  
  
"I haven't a clue as to what you mean. Who are you," Faryn demanded, suddenly angry at the reference.  
  
"Hoggle. Who are you?"  
  
"Faryn," she snapped in return.  
  
The dwarf stood staring at her for so long, Faryn was sure he'd freeze that way. "But you look like."  
  
"Yes, yes. Sarah is my mother and Eric was my father. I thought everyone here would know that."  
  
"Jareth's the only one who can get out, anymore. And He spends all of His time in his castle watching something or other. Half the goblins in the city are starving because they aren't allowed in the kitchens for months at a time. That bastard of a father you have ruins everything he touches," Hoggle ranted.  
  
"Starving," Faryn mulled, having tuned out everything the dwarf had said after that. It meant something. And then she remembered.  
  
Eric's face floated in her memory, a disembodied hand wagging one finger at her as he lectured mutely. Pressing at memories she never thought she'd need, the scene opened up. The walls of their foyer became clear behind him, the rest of his body appeared and the words became clear.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure you could just create a field out of the will that no one get in." She had asked why magic had to be so painful. "However, it's easier and much more preventive if you take a Loose Spirit and stretch it over something." Every time she had asked that question, Eric had said that if it wasn't someone else's pain, it would have to be her own. "The stretching angers it. Then it becomes very hungry and will attack anything that touches it." That had never really answered her question. His anal retentive posturing to teach her only his way of doing things, Faryn hoped, was about to give her answers she hadn't known then that she would need.  
  
Biting down on her lip, she shoved her hand into the shimmering field. Faryn didn't so much as grunt when she felt millions of needles assault her flesh, and watched cuts open and bleed. She watched with eyes held wide, and in the same breath that the field faltered she shoved her foot out, dispersing several of the tiny symbols in the dirt. The barrier fell with an audible scream, mirrored by Faryn's own quiet cry, and the screech of Ukee.  
  
The girl immediately pulled her hand in toward her shirt, but never connected with her chest. She looked up to find that Hoggle had grabbed her wrist. She looked a question at him, and the dwarf shrugged. "Your shirt isn't very clean. You don't want it to get infected, do you?"  
  
Faryn had to stare at him before her pain-muddled brain translated what he was slurring. "No. No, that would be bad."  
  
"Right. Hold on." Hoggle set to retrieving a leaf from the edge of a square stone bath. When he tried to put it around her hand, she moved out of the way.  
  
"That's supposed to be better?"  
  
"Of course!" When Hoggle was fixed with her incredulous gaze, he mumbled, "Okay, so it might turn you blue and make your hair fall out." The dwarf dropped the leaf and kicked dirt over it. "Cor. I can't lie to that face. Can't you wear a different one?"  
  
Faryn shook her head in disbelief. "It's kinda the only one I've got."  
  
At that moment, Ukee displayed a burst of energy, leaping from Faryn's shoulder to race around Hoggle three times at a dizzying pace. She then climbed atop his head, hooking her claws into his hat to stare upside down into Hoggle's face. "Yer is just a big meanie, Hoggle. Don't yer talk ta my Faryn thatta way! Is rude!" Then she leapt from Hoggle's head to Faryn's before either had a chance to react. Perching regally, her tail twitching, she proclaimed, "My Faryn."  
  
Between fits of laughter at the red coloring to Hoggle's cheeks, Faryn managed to ask Ukee why she hadn't spoken before.  
  
"Di'na see a need ter. Taut yer speech were good 'nuf fer me," she explain, curling onto Faryn's shoulder again. She rubbed her head against the girl's cheek, adding, "Thank yer fer sevin me."  
  
"Cor," Hoggle cursed. He looked at Faryn from the corner of his eyes, asking, "What'd you do that for, anyway?"  
  
"Break the barrier?" Hoggle nodded, and Faryn stood up, shrugging. "I have to solve the labyrinth, and that involves breaking any of Eric's spells I come across. Why do you have such a problem with it - don't you want out?"  
  
Still not trusting her, Hoggle asked, "Why would you break your father's spells?"  
  
"Because that's the way it is done," Faryn growled through her teeth, causing Ukee to hiss and Hoggle to take a step back. Clearing her throat, the girl apologized.  
  
Distractedly, Faryn ripped the cuff from the wrist of her shirt while they stared at her. She wrapped it once around her hand before tying a small knot to hold. "Now. I really need to get on to the labyrinth, so if you could kindly tell me how to enter?"  
  
Hoggle nodded. "Right." He pointed to a gap in the vines that ran the length of the walls. "You gets in, there." The wall became a door, then opened onto a lone corridor running straight in from it. He looked at her oddly as she started across to it. "You're really going in there?"  
  
"That's what I said, my man," she laughed, turning her head to avoid seeing Ukee snatch one of the fairies and eat it. "Coming with me?"  
  
"No."  
  
Faryn looked back at the dwarf in dismay.  
  
"But, if you don't get eaten, or killed, or worse, you may see me again." At her smile, Hoggle added, "A bit of warning: the Labyrinth's gone crazy. er, since it was locked in on itself."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
It wasn't until Faryn took her first step into the labyrinth that she began to worry. The doors slammed ominously behind her, leaving her with only one path to follow. Ukee crowded against the side of her face, placing strange talon-claws delicately in her curls. She'd gotten no further when a strange cry startled both girl and goblin.  
  
"Damn you, Gravity!"  
  
The flying, or rather falling, bundle of molting feathers, armor, and bad smells shrieked as it tumbled out of the sky to land with a sickening crunch barely two feet in front of Faryn and Ukee. It ended up in a lump of different kinds of feathers stuck at odd angles, mixed in with mismatched pieces of metal. The little blue goblin promptly settled into a fit of high- pitch giggles that Faryn had to wince at.  
  
"What is that," Faryn asked, before blinking to herself in dismay over repetitive bad dialogue.  
  
Ukee was too lost in laughter to answer, but Faryn soon got her response as the bundle of pieces and parts shook and stood up. This seemed to startle the goblin on her shoulder, as Ukee's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "That is'a Amam Pherruginus. They is tarible flight-thingies. Dey'd be 'xtinct if they weren't sho good at breedin'."  
  
Faryn peered at the mass of mismatched parts as it shook itself and turned to face them. It had a pointed beak-like visor that appeared razor-edged suspended over much of its face. A large, misshapen helmet that was once painted blue was strapped onto its head, one curved spike running from the crown of it. A breastplate that seemed too large for the goblin to flap its wings properly had several straps wrapped over it from smaller breastplates that were tied to its shoulder joints. The long, scrawny, legs were so covered in mail that when it tried to crouch against the wall, it only managed to sit down halfway, as if on a chair. Faryn imagined that it couldn't have been terribly comfortable.  
  
"Shouldn't you be dead," she asked it without any prelude.  
  
"Shouldn't you," it spat back.  
  
"I didn't just fall out of the sky," Faryn countered.  
  
"So? I was reinforced by the mighty Eric Talenka, ward of the King (until that nasty business with his nieces) and I am unkillable!" When it finished babbling, the bird-thing stood up to its full height, which was about waist level to Faryn, and threw its head back. Then promptly fell over.  
  
Righting itself as quickly as it had fallen, the Amam Pherruginus opted to stay hunched and instead glower at the girl.  
  
Warily, Faryn posited, "So, Eric reinforced you for a reason?"  
  
"Yes," it stated in its shrill voice, the visor bobbing as it nodded. "I am to carry messages to him, and be sure to tell him if anything goes wrong with the shining wall."  
  
"Oh," Faryn said, her voice suddenly silken. She sauntered towards the creature as it shuffled against the wall again. "How noble," she praised it, one hand smoothing its feathers into alignment, as the other fastened them in place. "And have you anything to tell him today?"  
  
"I-I-I'm not s-s-s-supposed to tell an-n-nyone." Its head swiveled wildly back and forth.  
  
Faryn stroked the Amam Pherruginus' neck hairs carefully. It seemed to immensely calm the bird, so she tried again, "You already told me what you're supposed to do. Obviously you can trust me. I won't tell."  
  
The bird-goblin was making contented chirping noises when it answered, "No. My eyes fell out a few falls back, so I never have anything to report."  
  
"Good Amam," Faryn purred. She scratched under its beak, which was greasy, and hairy, and not at all beak like. "Would you like me to hold you up so you can fly again?"  
  
When the goblin nodded, Faryn picked it up by its hips, very careful not to unduly disturb any of the patched-on feathers. As she held it over her head, it flapped its wings several times before taking off. Leaving Faryn with a face-full of mismatched feathers.  
  
"Thanks," she said sarcastically after it.  
  
Peeling feathers from the girl's face, Ukee peered at her new master oddly. "Wot d'you do that fer?"  
  
"Let it go, you mean?" Faryn brushed the rest of the smelly feathers away, turning back to the labyrinth and continuing her walk. "Its a stupid, harmless creature. Its not like it can follow us."  
  
"I taut yer was s'pozed to break Eric's shpells?"  
  
"It won't tell on us, Ukee. There's no reason to be unnecessarily cruel." She had to heave them over a rather large tree trunk, then. It grew from the wall and seemed to have no tree connected to it at all. She added as an afterthought, "Besides, knowing my father - killing it would probably be the only way he'd find out we'd met it at all."  
  
She grinned at the blue goblin's uncertain look, scratching behind her ears. "Trust me."  
  
Ukee gave her a moment of silence before asking, "Why din'int yer ask about ther King's nieces?"  
  
Faryn tripped over a tree root that grew out of the wall. She regained her balance a moment after she'd lost it. "Oh, fantastic," she swore. "I was so worried that the goblin might rat us out that I didn't even notice he'd said it." She smiled sideways at the goblin, keeping an eye out for more roots. "Do you know anything about them?"  
  
"It were b'fore my tiome."  
  
"Ah, well. Sooner or later someone will tell us."  
  
Half an hour later found Faryn disgruntled. "Good goddess, this corridor never ends!" As soon as the words left her mouth, the girl felt immensely stupid. She put her hand on the wall, chuckling to herself. Her good spirit was diminished again when she had spent nearly as long trailing her fingers along the walls, and still discovered no opening.  
  
"Any ideas, Ukee?"  
  
The blue goblin shook her furred head. "I ain't been outta der castle scents tha shealing. And then I were on'y in ther enchanched ferest."  
  
Faryn ran her fingers over the goblin's fluffy tail more for herself than to comfort Ukee. "It's okay. How long ago was that, anyway?" It had to have been over twenty years, she pondered to herself as she stepped over treeless root after treeless root. Hoggle hadn't seemed to know Sarah had even been pregnant, let alone a mother of two.  
  
"I were on'y a wee gobling then. I donna 'member, rightly."  
  
They continued on for some time, Faryn fretting lightly over how things might have gone differently if the labyrinth had never been sealed. "What do you know about the labyrinth, Ukee?"  
  
"Not much, m'fraid. I know dat it's diff'rent 'pendin' on whoshe walking it."  
  
The treeless roots abruptly changed direction, instead of growing out of the wall, they were growing straight ahead. Where the path had been clear moments before, it was now shrouded in mist. Distractedly, she prompted, "What do you mean?"  
  
Ukee, unaware of the changes, continued on. "I mean if'n this is yer labyrinph since you is walkin' it, it'sa gonna be differn't from my labyrinph. If i'twere my labyrinph, it would be much shorter, and dirker, cuz I'mma scered of da dirk."  
  
"Uh-huh," Faryn acknowledged, not really listening as the mists closed in around them. The tree the roots belonged to was very close. She could feel its great mass pressing from in front of her. The mist weighed heavily all around. Faryn was given the impression that the mist was there to keep something in, not to disturb the unwary.  
  
Then the mist was not there. Like walking through a wall, Ukee and Faryn pressed out into a clearing that seemed to be quietly breathing. A great wall loomed before them, reaching up into the vermilion sky further than they could see. It was no wall, however, but a great tree. An old tree that was more than a tree.  
  
Faryn was so drawn to it that she never felt her feet move, yet she was beside the great tree in half a breath, gazing up at its great height, longing to touch it. The girl leaned against it, undisturbed by the warm slickness that greeted her touch. She pressed as much of her free skin to it as she could. Faryn cried. Her eyes sealed against the wash of tears, and she cried. Great sobs fought against her body, forcing her to curl into one of the hollows between the roots that stood taller than she. Still she cried.  
  
What seemed like an eternity later, Faryn was finally able to open her sore eyes. Ukee was perched on her knees, tail flicking back and forth nervously, as her forepaws rested on Faryn's temples. "My Faryn okay?"  
  
"I'm all right, Ukee," she whispered harshly, finding her voice gone raw. She raised a hand to stroke the goblin's fur, only to find it covered in a think red goo.  
  
In blood.  
  
Disturbed, the girl looked up at the tree. Upon close inspection, the tree was secreting blood, as one might find sap on a maple tree. It ran in slow, thick, rivulets here and there. One side of Faryn's body was covered in it. Ukee was remarkably untouched, but Faryn suspected that the small goblin had used her taller body as a shield.  
  
The girl stood up, using the tree to balance in the pool that had formed at her feet. The sadness and pain she felt came from the tree, as the blood did. Someone had hurt it terribly, but somehow, she was supposed to make it better.  
  
"Who did this to you?"  
  
The wounds flooded for a moment. She felt accused, as if they indicated her, but not her. Faryn understood. "Poppa," she whispered to herself. "Why were you so cruel?" She took a deep breath, balling her good hand into a fist. "For his sake, I hope it wasn't our friendly Goblin King."  
  
"How can I make you better," she called up to the tree. Her father had started training her in defense and offense, and in barriers and potions. He had never once brought up the subject of healing. Only the labyrinth had allowed her to understand why.  
  
Tiny goblins seemed to come from nowhere, swarming over roots and down the side of the tree. When they came closer, she noticed that they were not the goblins she thought them to be. They bore great similarity to the bug-like fairies from the gardens outside the labyrinth. Only, these wore brighter, more delicate clothing that seemed to be made entirely from petals and leaves. They chattered happily in a language she almost understood, and drug with them vines from above. One ventured too near, causing Ukee to hiss and snap at it with her claw.  
  
"Pillerwiggins!" She said the word as though it were a curse, her lips drawn back in a snarl. "They be from ther Nixen kentry! This be one o' ther trees!" The blue goblin twisted her body in ways Faryn hadn't thought possible, as she warded off the little creatures and their vines. "Why it be here?"  
  
Faryn stared at the Pillywiggins, wondering the same thing. She remembered stories her mother had told her of many Fae things, but she didn't remember it all. She was quite certain, however, that they tended to care for things their size or smaller. Unless the tree's past protectors had been. removed.  
  
The vines they held writhed with a life their own, occasionally trying to shake one of the tiny sprites off. It seemed they had not the strength to escape the grasp of their tiny masters. Wincing, Faryn realized what they wanted. Briefly, she wondered if everything Eric Talenka had broken would require the same thing.  
  
"There's got to be another way," she demanded of the tree. Her hands were shaking as they brushed Ukee's fur for comfort. "Show me your wound. Maybe I can dress it."  
  
The mists darkened. The great tree seemed to lean over them. Faryn realized that this Faerie Tree was probably as old as the labyrinth and as arrogant as the King. It wasn't the sort to ask for help, but the kind of monarch that demanded compliance.  
  
It wouldn't let her leave without giving up what it wanted.  
  
Her eyes wandered up the trunk of the great tree again. The rivulets drew her eyes like any sore on her own body might have. In the corners of her vision, the Pillywiggans danced anxiously, awaiting her decision.  
  
"Have you asked the Goblin King," she tried desperately. "He knows some," her voice cracked, forcing her to swallow before continuing. "Something of Eric's magic - he might be able to help." She felt stupid as she forced a smile out for the tree. It wasn't that she didn't believe what she had said, but that the tree didn't. It oozed skepticism all over her.  
  
There was no other choice, she realized. The deeds of her father had to be undone, and he wasn't about to do so. Given the option, she would offer herself over her brother, though either would likely do. She had chosen this responsibility, and she would bear it. Strangely, for all the rationale to do the deed that she had, Faryn didn't feel the least bit resolved.  
  
"Faryn," her little blue goblin called gently, placing one foreclaw against her face. "Yer donna have to do this. We can run away."  
  
"Ukee," she addressed the goblin with her raw voice. The blue goblin girl immediately recoiled, afraid. "Be calm." Faryn then lifted the little goblin placing her on a clean root bend. Ukee whimpered, but stayed where she was put.  
  
"It's okay," she promised the Ukee as the vines were freed to wrap around her. "It'll be all right." Faryn offered a winning smile.  
  
The tendrils enclosed her entirely. Some of them merely stroked her face and back in an almost soothing manner. Others wound tightly about her appendages, sinking deeper and deeper into her flesh. Faryn felt the first bite on her upper right arm, then they came too quickly for her to follow. It didn't bother her. She felt at ease, doing what she knew was right. The tree seemed sated by her willingness.  
  
Then there was anger. Great rolling waves of it, pouring over her. The vines tightened further, and none tried to soothe her. Faryn knew something was wrong as her heart raced to keep her blooded. Something had gone horribly wrong.  
  
The blood. The blood was too similar. In its hunger, it thought she was her father.  
  
Faryn struggled, tried to break free, but she had lost too much. She faintly heard the shrill screech of Ukee enraged, and prayed that the little goblin had the sense to get away instead of attack.  
  
Light suddenly flooded the girl's senses, banishing things like pain and fear. Her heart slowed. Faryn had just enough time to wonder at how unfair it was to die inside the labyrinth, before she lost all sense, and fell into darkness. 


	5. A Boy in the Goblin King's Castle

A Boy in the Goblin King's Castle  
  
Joshua had taken his reading glasses from his pocket, shoving them so roughly on his nose that he cut himself. They hadn't changed a thing. Thus, he sat huddled in the corner, staring with eyes so wide the glasses threatened to fall. He was too afraid to move and stop their descent.  
  
When he was little, his mother had given him the glasses. She promised that whenever he put them on, the monsters under his bed would be so afraid that they wouldn't bother with him, and would go away. He had long known that she had just made it up to make him feel better, but in moments like this, he still turned to the glasses for sanctuary. The act of putting them on, this time, did not dispel the illusions in the dark corners of his bedroom. Which led him to two conclusions. The first being, that he was no longer in his room, or his Uncle Toby's room which he had hidden from his sister in.  
  
The second, that the hulking, armored, dripping, leering, toothed and horned things surrounding him in the dark pit, were real.  
  
Joshua would have assumed it all a horrible dream, if he didn't remember so vividly how he'd been carried like luggage through another dark place into a pit by the horrible monsters. Or if he hadn't thought it was a dream. Dreams never last after you discover them for what they are, his mother had told him.  
  
After he had sat, so very still, in the corner for a time beyond what he could keep track of, Joshua began to relax. Few of the things looked in his direction, and none of them seemed to care he was even there at all. As he calmed down, Joshua realized that he was twice as large as the largest monster. In fact, he could probably just kick them around if they started to harass him.  
  
That in mind, Joshua stood up. All around him, the things scattered for cover, ranting about the 'monster' being awake. Before they could all get away, he snatched one up by the tail. The creature was covered in a greasy fur from head to tail tip, and its arms were as long as its body. Fortunately, its body wasn't much over a foot long. Two horns that seemed to be made out of a very flimsy cartilage instead of bone looped out to the sides of its head from a point between its glowing yellow eyes. As it hung suspended upside down, he asked it where he was and why they had taken him there.  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"You don't know where we are, or you don't know why I'm here?" Joshua wasn't about to let it go easily.  
  
"Of course I know where I am! This is the Goblin King's castle!"  
  
"And why am I here?"  
  
"How should I know?"  
  
"You brought me here," Joshua yelled, stomping his foot, and shaking the monster about.  
  
"Cahr! His Majesty made me do it!"  
  
"Why!"  
  
"I don't know! I just do what I'm told!" Something must have occurred to the thing, then, because it scrunched its face up in what Joshua could only assume was a smirk. "Mostly."  
  
"So you're a goblin, huh," Joshua asked it after a thoughtful pause.  
  
While the captive goblin was preparing to agree, two others suddenly appeared. Both were short, hunchbacked, and wearing a long, white beard. They looked exactly alike down to their helmets and maces. They pointed the weapons at him with a grunt that might have been imposing, if they'd been any larger than his foot.  
  
"Fantastic," Joshua said as he rolled his eyes, which was as close to swearing as the fifteen year old boy got. "Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Pilch," said the one on the left, sticking his mace out further in threat.  
  
"And I'm Pilch," the right one squeaked, stomping his foot.  
  
"And you're under arrest," the Pilch on the Left told him in no uncertain terms.  
  
"Oh yeah," Joshua scoffed, trading disbelieving looks with the goblin he still held upside down. "For what?"  
  
"Blatant disregard for the law," screamed Pilch on the Right.  
  
"You've broken the Prevention of Thoughtful Pauses Act," howled Pilch on the Left.  
  
Joshua shrugged, blinked thoughtfully, and stomped on Pilch on the Right. The goblin shrieked, now compacted entirely into his helmet, and went running down a random corridor.  
  
"Now, Pilch," he knelt before the remaining goblin imposingly. Taking the mace from it, Joshua ordered, "Find your king. Tell him I've escaped, and I want him to send me home - immediately. Go!"  
  
Pilch Who Had Been Previously of the Left went shrieking down another corridor.  
  
"Which way do I go to get out of here?"  
  
The captive goblin shrugged, which was rather funny-looking as it was still hanging upside down. Then it pointed into the opening that neither Pilch had taken.  
  
"What's your name, anyway?"  
  
"Demanding, ain'tcha? I'm Groeg. Who're you?"  
  
"Joshua." The boy started down the hallway, having to stoop as it was obviously made only large enough for a very tall goblin. "And I gotta get out of this castle before I remember why I should be worried about that king of yours."  
  
Groeg made a noise that Joshua suspected sneers sounded like, before offering, "Good furking luck. I ain't been outta the castle since the Nixes Takeover."  
  
The hallway got progressively shorter until Joshua had to crawl to get through it. The walls became rough and rocky, jutting out in odd places. Fortunately, it opened up into a giant dome-shaped room before he was forced to let go of Groeg. The new room looked just like the pit he'd been in, down to the three stalactites hanging in the middle of the room. Groeg pointed him down another corridor, but Joshua couldn't remember whether it was the same one he had taken before. He followed it.  
  
"Nixes? Aren't those scaly, hairy monsters who swim the deep and warn people about future drownings they might be culpable for?"  
  
When Groeg only stared at him, Joshua tried again. With smaller words. "Aren't nixes fish people?"  
  
"Nope," the goblin's tone said that was the stupidest idea in the world. "You're thinkin' of nixies. Nixes are like goblins, only smoother and shinier," Groeg said both words as if they were the finest insults he could think of. "They invaded after the Great Collapse of Good Governance and tricked us into letting them stay."  
  
It was Joshua's turn to stare. After a bit, he shook his head and crouched to shuffle through an opening into another room.  
  
Or rather, the same room. He snarled in frustration. "This place is crazy. It just keeps looping back!"  
  
"No it doesn't," Groeg managed to squeak out between losing his breath as he was flung wildly about in Joshua's tantrum.  
  
A soft white light suddenly filled the pit, startling boy and goblin into stillness and silence. Then Groeg shut his glowing eyes, held onto his captor's wrist with all fours, and began to shake so badly that it shook Joshua's entire arm as well.  
  
Joshua, on the other hand, stood enraptured by the light. He suddenly felt very calm. "What is that," he whispered to nothing in particular.  
  
"The Gloamy Sprite," Groeg answered with a harsh whisper.  
  
It seemed as if the light were soughing, so quiet were the words he heard. Then the sound was gone. It was only a moment later that Joshua's mind caught up with his ears.  
  
"Release the goblin. Its captivity is meaningless."  
  
Spurred into action, he set the creature on the ground and promptly forgot it, as he returned to stare into the light. Groeg, however, was too terrified to leave, and crawled onto Joshua's thigh, clutching as tightly as he had to the boy's wrist.  
  
They stood in silence this way for a while, as Joshua relaxed. When his breathing had stilled so as not to interfere with hearing, the Gloamy seemed to sense it and spoke again. "I can lead you out of the castle," the distinctly feminine voice promised. "But I need your help, first, Joshua."  
  
So lost in her spell, the boy didn't think to wonder how she knew his name. "Anything," he swore, leaning closer to hear better.  
  
"I am trapped within the castle by a magic mirror. I need you to break it."  
  
"Just take me to it!" The light seemed to swell and become warm. Joshua assumed it meant she was pleased with him.  
  
"Carry the goblin and bid it make no sound," the soft whisper told him. "Then follow me, quickly!"  
  
Tugging Groeg from his leg, he slung the goblin over his shoulder and ran after the light. He smirked as he remembered it was the one Pilch on the Right had taken. Briefly, he wondered if there were an Anti-Smirking Law. Then he concentrated on keeping sight of the Gloamy Sprite as she wavered from wall to wall.  
  
It was a very short time before the Gloamy Sprite led them into the castle proper. The short, rough walled tunnels abruptly opened into vast corridors of smooth, light coloured stone walls made from giant bricks. The ceiling was so high up that he couldn't make it out in the faint light of the Gloamy. Giant chain links adorned the walls, stopping now and again to display some coat of arms or another, or hang some bit of unrecognizable weaponry. They passed no one, and it seemed as if the castle were abandoned or asleep.  
  
The Gloamy slowed suddenly as they came to a door. She hovered near it, flickering, until Joshua got the clue that he needed to open it. As he did, a brief, sharp, sting assaulted his fingertips. The Gloamy Sprite hovered until he had recovered, then took off again.  
  
Still dark, this part of the castle was different. The walls were made of finer stock, but still giant. Tapestries had once hung in the spaces between the chains, but now they were only tattered remnants of their former glory. Candles had been placed in low spots along the massive chain, but had long since burned out altogether.  
  
The Gloamy Sprite slowed as they neared a lit cross-corridor. Joshua peered around the corner to discover a massive collection of goblins of all shapes and sizes. They seemed to be fighting each other to the death at first, but then he noticed food. They were having lunch. Or dinner. Or something.  
  
"Go now, quick," Groeg whispered. Joshua had the inkling that the goblin was far more concerned about his own safety than the boy's. When the were across, they found the Gloamy lighting up the base of a steep stairwell. The moment they reached her, she shot upwards, vanishing into the darkness. Having no other options, Joshua chased after.  
  
He came to a huffing stop some ten grueling minutes later. They had reached a landing at the top of the staircase, that branched into a single hall. At the end of that, the Gloamy Sprite wavered dimly next to a door. Heaving in gulps of air, Joshua made his way to the door. He had to suspend Groeg in one arm while he put the other against the wall for support.  
  
"In here?"  
  
The Gloamy's only response was a soft breeze against him.  
  
Joshua twisted the handle, and pushed it open, but didn't get the chance to step inside. A wind no harder than his own breath pressed against him, pushing him back from the door.  
  
"Careful," the Gloamy Sprite whispered, and, "Look."  
  
Just inside the jamb of the door, a faint change in the air took place. It looked like the air above a fire, or a hot desert road. Clear flames, his father had told him, mark a magical barrier.  
  
Never once had he believed his father's strange religion and practices to be true. He'd listened, sure enough, and learned. Because he was afraid to do anything else. Yet, never - never, had he believed it real.  
  
Joshua stared at it for a long time, trying to recall the word his father said would make the wall go away. It came to him as he watched the way the 'non-corporeal' wall flickered at him, and he called it out. "Corporeate!"  
  
The wall instantly froze, and became a solid white as if it truly were ice. Then it shattered, and seemed to give out a very quiet moan as it dissipated on the air. He stepped into the room immediately, far more afraid of being found by whatever it was that lived in this part of the castle than by tripping into another magic trap.  
  
The Gloamy Sprite raced across the room to hover in front of a mirror. Joshua could almost make out her features before they were gone on the wind the Gloamy seemed to exist in.  
  
"This is it, huh?" Joshua ran his fingers over the cold frame of the mirror. It was silver carved to resemble leaves. The glass was unmarred, but covered in a very think layer of dust. The mirror was oval, and taller than he, but suspended on a turn stand and tilted toward the ceiling. He noted that the reflection of the Gloamy Sprite seemed to shift from near to far. Turning, he found a twin mirror, oddly hung against the roof, and reflecting directly into the first mirror.  
  
"So," he asked the flickering light. "How do I break it?"  
  
The room swirled with a faint breeze. Joshua guessed that was her way of admitting that she didn't know. He looked at Groeg on his shoulder, and the goblin just shrugged at him. He tried to study the ceiling mirror in the reflection of its twin, but his gaze kept crossing itself.  
  
"Well, since you two are immensely helpful," Joshua reasoned, "I guess I'm on my own. But first," he moved around to the back of the mirror as he spoke. "I'm moving this before I go permanently cross-eyed." He had to reach to his full height to grasp the top of the mirror, then spun it to face the wall, instead.  
  
No sooner had he finished, then a loud crashing sound exploded through the otherwise empty room, and glass rained down on them. Joshua ducked, and Groeg dug his claws into the front of his captor's shirt, to use his body as a shield.  
  
When the tinkling sound of falling shards stopped, Joshua stood up again and shook himself off. Groeg managed not to be thrown off. What sat in the middle of the remains of the ceiling mirror was not at all what the boy had expected. A creme-coloured owl with big, flat circles of feathers around its eyes was calmly plucking pieces of mirror from between its feathers.  
  
"Gloamy," he ventured.  
  
The owl looked up at him and hooted, shaking her feathers out. The body seemed to stretch, and then it suddenly vanished.  
  
"Thank you," the Gloamy Sprite's voice whispered from in front of him.  
  
"Where did you go?" Though he knew it wasn't possible, Joshua felt the wind turn sad all around him. A moment later, the owl reappeared. She took flight, rushing at his face.  
  
Joshua turned out of her way in time to see the owl fly through a window he hadn't noticed. Rushing to it, he called out "Hey, you pro-" before noticing a weight had left his chest.  
  
Below the window ledge, Groeg climbed onto a ladder which was not quite hidden by dense ivy-like vines. The goblin looked up at the boy, and waved with one clawed hand. "Welp, c'mon, then."  
  
"Fantastic," Joshua swore under his breath. The boy removed his glasses, tucking them safely into their case. He then climbed onto the ladder himself, albeit slowly. After he'd left the window entirely, it vanished, and a patch of fungi-like growths took its place. They grew in stalks, at the end of which were very real eyes that followed his every move.  
  
It was all real. And he was going to kill Faryn for it. As soon as he found her, he was going to wrap his hands around her pencil neck and pop off her daydreaming little girl head.  
  
If he ever found her. 


	6. The Value of an Unexpected Touch

The Value of An Unexpected Touch  
  
.  
While Jareth knew the girl was not dead, and was strangely glad for that, he was not entirely certain why. He had felt her pain reverberate through the walls of the mighty Labyrinth, and flown from whatever boring task he hadn't been paying attention to.  
  
Only to discover an unconscious, bloody, Faryn lying alone in an empty pathway of the Labyrinth. There was no trace of the goblin he had left in her care, or whatever creature had harmed her. Curious, and not just a little bit vexed with himself for missing such a spectacle, he decided to wait until she awakened. Retrieve the event from the sprite's mouth, as it were.  
  
Not wanting to warn anyone off from antagonizing her, the Goblin King wove a single crystal onto his fingertips. He blew gently against it, causing the orb to swell until it popped. In its wake, the blood was gone and her clothing replaced with something more. appropriate. He smirked at the creme- coloured dress. Both she and Sarah had deemed it appropriate to think of he and his Labyrinth from within, so what could be better to traverse the object of her daydreams?  
  
For extra measure, the crystal spell had also coated him in a glamour. The vain King's silver and gold hair became burned honey, thickly curling in a braid down his back. His fine clothes of stature became a gray robe and trousers, belted around the middle. Jareth's face remained much the same, for no goblin ever looked close enough to recognize it's King's eyes in the drab figure. He would offer her help in no way.  
  
Still, the situation puzzled him. There had been a goodly amount of blood on her. Since she was the only creature in thousands of miles who bled red, he wondered at the lack of wounds. There was the slight memory of them in faded scars along her skin, but nothing new.  
  
Thus the Goblin King sat, waiting for his newest conquest to awaken. Then her eyes fluttered open, and Faryn heaved herself up onto one arm, brushing curls from her face. Jareth took an imperceptible breath before he offered sarcastically, "Well, well. What have we here?"  
  
Startled, Faryn nearly fell. The King caught her, helping her to sit up. "Thank you," she murmured, brushing the hair from her face again. He held the elastic band he had kept from the clean-up out to her, and Faryn repeated herself.  
  
"Who are y-" she started, able to look up at last. "Oh, it's you."  
  
"Is that really all you have to say," Jareth countered without a slip. He felt he should have known his illusion would not fool her. Faced with her mismatched eyes, the Goblin King could not remember why he would be so unsurprised. He continued flawlessly, "Not, 'Thank you, your grace, for getting rid of all that nasty blood.' Or perhaps, 'By the way, your majesty, would you like to know what happened to me?'"  
  
Faryn gave him an odd look, one eyebrow lifting so far that Jareth wondered if she were mocking his own expressions. At last she asked, "You're not the one who rescued me?"  
  
"Of course not. You rejected my help. I found you." as Jareth trailed off, he glanced over Faryn's head, then gave a resigned sigh. "I'll tell you in a little while."  
  
"What? Why?" Faryn turned just in time to see what looked like a giant tuber before she slumped to the ground again.  
  
Jareth was surprised to discover that he felt mildly annoyed at the turn of events. He covered it well, however, letting his face fall slack as he pretended the blow had taken both of them. The Tallow Goblins scooped them up, one apiece, and threw the smaller creatures over their shoulders. With the aid of a little casting, the Goblin King was able to create a slim barrier between himself and the goblin. Not enough for the goblin to notice, but enough so that it was neither touching him nor dirtying his clothing.  
  
At last, the Tallow Goblins reached their hideaway, depositing he and Faryn next to a rotting goblin that Jareth supposed had been one of the Tallow's grandmothers. They seemed to be wont towards that sort of thing. One of the most grotesque results of the transformation, Tallow Goblins were usually the result of older children being changed to goblin-kind. They stood over five feet tall and two thirds as wide. Taller than any other goblin, they bore huge lumps on their backs. The gargantuan bulbs they gutted and filled to use as weapons were barkarbobs, and grew in the soggy creases between their skin. Altogether very disgusting creatures.  
  
The goblins wandered off, most likely to seek whomever owned the granny they sat beside. Not wishing to sit in the filthy den longer than absolutely necessary, the King nudged Faryn into consciousness.  
  
"Can't you let me die in peace, you sadistic rat bastard," Faryn growled. It startled the King, not because her tone was so cross, but because he was enchanted by the sound of it.  
  
Behind his arrogant veneer he stared in wonder at the girl. She was causing strange wings to flap in his stomach, without his permission. Outwardly, he smirked something wicked in her direction. "What would that achieve?"  
  
"Silence, one might hope," she responded, smiling sideways at him. "What do you want, anyway? I find it hard to believe your own goblins were able to capture you as easily as a silly human girl."  
  
"You would be right," the Goblin King nodded. "I only pretended to fall when you did. As hard as it may be to believe, I was not paying attention when you arrived at the bloody mess I found you in." Jareth did not pose the question, as his statement was amply suitable to elicit the information he wanted.  
  
"And you want to know what happened?" Faryn snorted. She stood up, walking along the wall to find an opening of some sort. Jareth followed her, not willing to miss a single embarrassing nuance. They came across a rather large corridor, at the end of which stood three giant figures.  
  
One of them was speaking in clear English, arguing, "Well, lad, the one you nabbed cannot possibly be your granny - it's a man!"  
  
"Oh, pish-posh. As if it ever mattered whether our grannies were ladies or not," returned the hulking mass to his left.  
  
"Well, the one you retrieved, Larry, can't be your granny, either," stated the third. "She's much too young."  
  
Before he was even aware of it, Jareth leaned to Faryn's ear and whispered, "You do realize; if you stand there much longer, you will draw their attention."  
  
Startled, the girl walked quickly and quietly back to where they had begun. The King moved with her, delighting in her nervous movements. She turned her mismatched eyes on him, then. He was further amused to see her trying to discover why he had warned her - it meant that for a moment longer, he didn't have to wonder the same. He could stare contentedly and welcome into her eyes.  
  
Faryn seemed to settle on one meaning or another, then offered, "It was a Faerie Tree. Eric wounded it, and like everything else around here, it wanted my blood to heal. Only, once it had me, it forgot that I wasn't Eric and tried to kill me. There was a bright light, and then there was you. End of story."  
  
The Goblin King arched an elegant brow, and nodded. His curiosity sated, Jareth was once more amazed when he didn't feel compelled to leave just yet. He wanted to stay, to see what happened with the girl.  
  
To see her out of the Tallow Goblin's hands, safely.  
  
More than surprised, Jareth was shocked at how his opinion had turned from curiosity to.. what was the word? Worry, he decided, was the word he'd been searching for. It did not set his mind to ease. The Goblin King would have moved to leave then, if her voice hadn't brought him back to find a wistful expression on her face.  
  
"What is it that you smile at so softly, your majesty?"  
  
Jareth turned his smile into a malignant smirk without bothering to think about it. "Your complete inability to recognize the gravity of the situation in which you have placed yourself," he lied without missing a beat.  
  
"One more question before you go," she asked, those large blue and gray eyes drawing him in. Jareth simply looked at her, which she took for the acceptance it was. "Do you know what made my father the way he is?"  
  
This time, it was an actual struggle to keep his amused mask in place. "No," he responded softly, thinking back.  
  
Eric. What a mistake he had been. Even his twin sister had seen the wrongness in the magically apt human boy. He should have accepted the nature of Eric's soul when the man had murdered his nieces, but in his delight at having discovered so skilled a protégé, he was blinded. It wasn't until after Jareth had granted him immortality for completing his Nixes wizardry lessons that Eric had shown his true colours in all their blazing glory.  
  
"Your majesty?"  
  
Faryn's voice cut into his musings again, forcing him to realize just how much he was letting himself slip. The fingertips of her hand were against his cheek, and it was an effort to turn away from her.  
  
"As long as I have known him, Eric has always been a cruel mockery of a man," he finished explaining, quickly. A blue spot appeared across the cavern, scampering around by the wall, almost completely disguised. "It seems that your rescue has arrived," he whispered just before the small goblin leapt into Faryn's arms.  
  
"Ukee," Faryn mouthed silently as the goblin burrowed into her embrace.  
  
Ukee almost immediately leapt to the ground again, beckoning them back the way she had come. Without warning or permission, Faryn took up his hand and dashed after the blue spot. She didn't even glance backwards to see if he was ready.  
  
Jareth stared at their joined hands as if it were some new beast that he had never seen before. He tried to recall the last time someone had taken his hand, arriving at a very hazy memory of his sister. Then another thought occurred to him; his spell. Nothing should have been able to touch him, yet Faryn was dragging him along a dark passageway, flesh to flesh.  
  
The Goblin King narrowly missed being swatted upon the crown by an errant rock formation, and was forced from his musing memories. So distracted by the hand hold he had become, that the King of the Labyrinth had lost track of where he was. Thus, he had to follow blindly behind the very woman who had distracted him.  
  
In a moment's time, however, they broke into the open again, stopping short of the exit when they realized it was pouring rain. Faryn released his hand to cuddle the goblin again. This left Jareth free to replace the spell she had broken, only to find that it was still in place. It made even less sense than rain in the Labyrinth. However, with two such confounding enigmas on his shoulders, he only had time for one before the other. The Labyrinth, of course, came first.  
  
"Coming, your grace," Faryn asked, still holding Ukee tightly.  
  
His laugh slid easily without command. "Into the pouring rain? Nay, my dear." On impulse for perhaps the first time in his long life, he took her hand and bent over it, brushing his lips along her knuckles. "I bid you adieu, Lady Faryn Talenka."  
  
Without warning, he twisted forms in front of her, not taking a moment to wonder at the expression on her face. The Goblin King, now in the easy form of a stunning white owl, took wing to his castle, as quickly as his inspection of the Labyrinth would allow.  
  
He burst through a court window, sneered at the mess, then returned to his nixes form. Wearing his regular malignant smirk, he gazed down upon the Lord High Goblin, the Goblin Prime Minister, the fair Lady Advisor of the Nixes Realms, and their assembled entourage. By entourage, of course, they had acquired a band of bored goblins, and the Lady Advisor had brought her nixes Gentleman-in-Waiting.  
  
"King Jareth," the Lady Advisor began without any form of welcome. "Fae creatures are jumping in and out of the Labyrinth. The weather seems to have gone to the goblins, and I arrive here to find you playing in the rain?"  
  
The Lord High Goblin was on her heels. "I was told that a Faerie Tree was in the Outer Corridors. They aren't allowed there! They scare all the Snatter goblins and the Pilches!"  
  
Lastly, Jareth turned his bemused face on the Prime Minister. The goblin, in turn, looked up stupidly before realizing he was there to say something. "Er. I don't like the rain."  
  
The Goblin King's nasal laugh filled the throne room with a chilled sort of mirth. "My Lady Advisor," he intoned seductively, earning a glower in return. "I was not playing, though I see no need to defend or explain myself. Out of my benevolent heart, I will share that I was discovering the cause to exactly what you are worried over.  
  
"Lady, goblins," Jareth addressed, widening his arms in charming deference. "I am a servant to the Labyrinth, and I know already the cause of all your concerns." With a wave of his elegant hand, the king called a crystal to his fingertips, willing it to find the source of the weather disturbance.  
  
He alone was not surprised when the crystal settled on Faryn's worried face, winding her way through a hedge maze. He knew the manner in which Eric would have been certain to have the woman born. His malicious ward's plan had become clear as he flew the length of the Labyrinth. The only mystery left to him was whether it was programming or will that Eric wanted the deed carried out with. Secretly, he wanted it to be by will. The Goblin King had come to wish for only the health and safety of his newest human contestant. He suspected, given the choice, Faryn would never choose to harm anything.  
  
"What is she," the Lady Advisor gasped, awed by the simple girl's unconscious power.  
  
Jareth never opened his mouth. Instead, he fixed his eyes on a growing cast of light that was floating up his staircase. It was from the light that the Lady received her answer.  
  
"The Lorialet."  
  
The Goblin King let the crystal float away unnoticed, popping against the wall. The creature the goblins called the Gloamy Sprite entered his throne room. She was little more than a swirling mist of light with a voice everyone found familiar. Like anything in the Labyrinth, she had many forms and many names. Over time, Jareth had come to call the being his vanguard. She always seemed to appear just as he realized something was about to go wrong.  
  
The goblins fled, terrified by the portent she might forewarn.  
  
"Yours, Stormy Petrel," the Lady Advisor asked acidly. Few of the resident nixes held anything but hate for his vanguard. Being, themselves, possessed of the notion to forewarn when they were about to commit some terrible action, nixes were inherently mistrustful of anything that preceded nefarious deeds.  
  
The Sprite murmured agreeably.  
  
The Lady Advisor must have noticed his amused smirk, because she turned her anger on the Goblin King. She put her fists on her hips, her diaphanous cape swaying behind her. "Since your little precursor seems unwilling to elaborate, perhaps you might, your majesty."  
  
Jareth's eyes narrowed to slits. "I would be more careful of my tone, if I were you." His head tilted upward even as the advisor's chin drifted closer to her bosom. "Queen Calypso might have given you her authority in matters, but her court is a very long way from where you stand."  
  
The nixes ambassador recoiled as if physically struck. "My apologies, King Jareth," she muttered, letting her arms fall to her sides again. "It is the nervousness the Stormy Petrel instills in me that has made me so presumptuous. Please, do not hold me accountable for such emotional actions."  
  
The Goblin King let his lack of response reassure or worry the Lady as it might, his eyes being pulled back towards the light of the Gloamy Sprite. Her voice seemed to float gently along a breeze pushed through his throne room by the rain. She was calling to him.  
  
The other nixes in the room looked at him expectantly, proving that the call had been a public one. From time to time his shining vanguard seemed to impart knowledge on him, and him alone. Though, since she had first appeared, none had been in his presence when she felt the need to counsel him.  
  
Seemingly of their own accord, his feet drew him to the light. He wondered idly at the feeling of dread that tried to invade his stomach. He hadn't felt such an emotion in ages, and knew that it came from the Gloamy Sprite. Her voice came swiftly after, turning his wonder at her emotions into a sharing of them within her first sentence.  
  
"I feel your sister traveling on the wind, and it is to us that she comes. Her ancient grudge has been ripped anew, with the anniversary of her daughters' death not a month behind us." The Gloamy Sprite paused, her unease seeming to make the wind of the room into a forceful gale.  
  
"However, it is neither the safety of your Labyrinth, nor that of yourself that you must worry for. The girl is why she comes. Your sister has felt her power through the Faerie Tree, and smelt her blood enough to know its source.  
  
"You must hide your heart from her if you are to protect the Lorialet. Your sister will surely destroy her if she sees what I see, now." She paused long enough for him to begin a countermand to her accusation. "Deceive yourself, if you will. If harm comes to the Lorialet, you will know a vengeance greater than even your sister could mete upon you."  
  
With a howl, his errant vanguard and her bolstered wind were gone, leaving the Goblin King standing with dread and anger in his every breath. Hide his heart, indeed.  
  
"What is it," the Gentleman-in-waiting asked brashly. His Lady followed quickly with, "What did she say?"  
  
His malignant smirk returned to his features as he placed a fist on his hip. So the Sprite did warn only he. The Goblin King began to laugh. He settled soon enough, then stared at his guests before deciding to answer their queries.  
  
"Queen Calypso comes."  
  
o/~*************~\o  
Author's Notes: For those of you fettered by a story where the author looses inspiration, I promise it won't happen to this story. In point of fact, this story is already written. I'm just mulling it over and rewriting it. And I promise you'll learn more about Eric. Cross my heart and hope to scream.  
  
It occurred to me when even my fabulous beta-reader (Thank you Genesis Grey, thank you!) had to ask me what a word meant, that my vocabulary might contain some obscure things. So, for those who are curious or just skipped words and swore loudly at the author, I have a little Lorialet dictionary here.  
  
And if no one was confused at all, I have one anyway!  
  
Chapter 5:  
  
Soughing : Sough - To make a soft, low sighing or rustling sound, as the wind.  
  
Gloamy Sprite: Gloaming - Twilight; dusk.  
  
Cahr - Goblin curse word meaning something too uncouth even for the author's note!  
  
Chapter 6:  
  
Stormy Petrel - One who brings discord or strife, or appears at the onset of trouble.  
  
If there are any others, feel free to leave a note (with a review!) or e- mail me for my definition use. Generally, though, I use dictionary.com when I need words looked up. So for those lurkers out there, that's where I get my stuff!  
  
Last, but not least, thank you to all the fabulous people who left reviews! Life blood here, man. Reviews are the life blood. And I have a question for you: Please tell me what you think of my sentence structure. What do you like and what don't you? Don't have to answer, I'm just curious. 


	7. Whispers on the Wind

A/N: All righty! At long last I can update again. Many apologies for the month-long wait, and thank you to those of you still with me. I realize this chapter is a bit dull, but I apologize. Unfortunately, I had a lot to get across, and little to do it with, I hope it's not too boring.

I'm posting chapters 7-10 all at once, but with a warning: Only chapter 7 has been beta'd. I've been over them so many times that I don't think there's going to be a huge problem. Maybe a word here or a word there. I'll repost the renovations of 8, 9, and 10 after my poor, wonderful (busy, fantastic, vastly intelligent, and beautiful!) beta, Genesis Grey, survives finals week. I just feel bad taking so much time with these!

So, if you see ANY problems, PLEASE leave a note for me so I can fix them. I always love help on my writing. Can't grow without it!

Formatting notes: I just realized a little while ago that all of my italics and strange symbols to do translate through ff.net's little box of magic. Sooo, I'll be going through and fixing that. This chapter and on will already be appropriately formatted… Eventually, I'll get around to coding them into HTML, and then I'll repost them. Any big fixes I'll let you know about. : ) /…x…/ - Denotes italics.

Enjoy thy reading!

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Chapter Seven: Whispers on the Wind

Faryn stared after the owl, realizing that she believed the Goblin King when he said he hadn't made Eric into the monster he was. She believed the man who had taken Eric as ward, who had taken her brother captive, and in whose labyrinth she had nearly died. She believed him, and she would continue to do so unless she found proof otherwise.

He seemed so lonely. The kind of lonely that came with being the most powerful thing in your world, all of your life. Pampered, but beholden to so many things that spoiled wasn't quite the word. The Goblin King seemed unchallenged, and horribly isolated for the omnipotence.

Yet, he had a wicked sense of humor, she noted off-hand to herself. Her shirt and pants had to have been blood drenched. For whatever careless reason was his own, Jareth had caused her to wake clothed in her mother's simple cream dress. Ukee, who had become a given presence to Faryn within hours, played idly with the useless tie at the neck. She nestled comfortably into the excess fabric of the sleeves, avoiding the worst of the mediocre storm with Faryn as a shield.

At a tugging on one much longer sleeve, Faryn blinked in time to not run into the hedge wall in front of her. Without warning, the goblin girl's head thumped against Faryn's chest, nearly knocking her off balance. The goblin looked innocently at her and asked, "Whassit ticking?"

Faryn paused, trying to listen beyond the rain that fell, heavily soaking them both. The rain along her face soothed the tiny healing scrapes and pushed the clumps of hair back. She heard the faint ticking of what sounded like a clock, then something was tugging on her neck. She glanced back at the goblin to find the critter playing with her necklace. The silver clock her mother had given her, as a protection against her father. And against the Goblin King. She chuckled, gently taking the clock from Ukee. "It's not that Ukee, it hasn't…" her voice trailed off as her fingers made her into a liar. The clock was ticking. "Worked since I got it," she finished in a whisper, staring down at the hands.

It was, indeed, working of a sudden. But not as a normal clock might. The timepiece was ticking along merrily, _backwards_. "Like a countdown," she murmured to herself. The hands put her at six hours and twenty-two minutes to go. "Oh, no," she wailed in dismay. "I've lost half the time and I'm still so far away!"

Wildly, she searched the distance for the now-familiar silhouette of the Goblin King's castle. It was there, to her right, nearer than before. She could make out the individual parapets, and the large windows from this distance. It was still so far.

"No worries, my Faryn," Ukee said gently, putting a forepaw to Faryn's cheek. "I knows a shirtcut frem 'ere to the enchanched ferest."

"Really," the girl exclaimed, delighted.

"Well, shortta. Ya gotsta get outta ther hedges inter ther Wide Tract of Rottenness, first."

"Oh, my," commented Faryn. A Wide Tract of Rottenness didn't sound good at all. "Where is that, then?"

"Just outta ther hedges. My nose never lies."

Faryn nodded, determined as she picked a new path to find an exit through. "Then out of here we go." She sped her pace.

Ukee leapt on to the girl's shoulder, curling her tail around Faryn's neck, and digging her back claws carefully between the threads of the wet dress. Her ears twitched from side to side anxiously while her furred nose flared imperceptibly to catch the scent of the Wide Tract of Rottenness. Absently, the goblin's foreclaws toyed with the hair along Faryn's face, messily braiding it.

Three dead ends and a long spiral later, Faryn squeaked quietly in surprise. From the hedge on her right, a thick green ooze was seeping. With the help of the rain it was running across most of the path and seemed to be spreading. At a light touch from the blue goblin, she remembered herself and edged around it.

"Is justa sweat of ther hedges washern off inna rain," Ukee explained calmly.

"Sweat," Faryn questioned with a grimace. "They're alive.. I mean, like you and me?"

"Oh, yes," the little goblin agreed emphatically.

"Weird," the girl commented with a chuckle.

A short silence later, Ukee asked, "Where my Faryn come from?"

Faryn bit her lip as she considered a response the goblin might understand. "Maine, I guess. My uncle's house."

Ukee nodded as if she understood what a 'Maine' was, but didn't. "What yer do there?"

"I was a college student," she answered, then bit her lip again. "Er, I went to school to learn old and new things and how to do them." Faryn turned down a corridor that led to the left. An awful smell came from it. She was assuming anything called the Wide Tract of Rottenness would smell bad.

"No," the blue goblin insisted loudly. "Thater way!"

"It just keeps curling in on itself, Ukee. We'll never get out that way."

The goblin thumped her paw against Faryn's shoulder lightly. "Just cause it curve on itself don't mean ther way out isn't in ther middle."

Nodding, the girl stepped back on the path she hadn't quite left, continuing down it.

"I wanter'd to go ter shchool, but ther King just made me learner about ther labyrinph," Ukee continued their conversation.

"He doesn't make all new goblins do that," Faryn asked, suddenly curious.

"Oh, no! Most goblins never learn anyfing, unless they be madge-rical somehows. Those go off ter shkool, and the rest just do whatever they want. Unless ther King gives them somefing ter do. Sometimes smart goblins get fostered in other kentries, or learn lots on ther own. Only Groeg and I were taught about ther labyrinph," Ukee explained excitedly. Apparently her knowledge was something she was quite proud of. 

Faryn wondered why the Goblin King had treated the little goblin-girl so badly when she'd met them.

"Who's Groeg?"

"He were ther first one ther King taught. Groeg taught me. He had somethern to do with ther Collapse of Gerd Governance, but no one knows what."

"Ther…. The Collapse of Good Governance," Faryn repeated, stumbling over Ukee's impediment.

"Far as I cern tell, it were when lots o' goblins got jealous o' each other. Then ther nixes took over and King Jareth became ther King."

While Ukee had explained, the path had curved sharply. Moments after she finished, it ended, opening into a vast and bleak junkyard, piles of trash towering high. Faryn's mind bucked at the illogic of it. Moments ago, she was walking down the space that the Wide Tract of Rottenness had to exist in. Yet there were no hedges to be seen, except that which stretched straight out for miles on either side of her, and curved away from the junkyard. The other side couldn't be seen, for even in the valleys between mounds of refuse there were more mountainous swells and smoke pillars that rose into a smoggy sky.

"How horrible," she recoiled verbally. It looked terrible, but behind it the castle loomed much closer. Her heart swelled.

Soon she would face the Goblin King and best him. Winning her brother and her freedom. And perhaps, a little bit of respect. Faryn hardly noticed as the rain petered out, and the clouds began to slowly disperse.

"Is't ther Wide Tract of Rottenness. It keep all the discurded thoughts and ermotions and things connected wither them in one place. That way, nofing else is corrupted by ther shaddness of ther lost dream or idea."

"Ah. Where to?"

"Gotta find Agnes. Her sister, Hel'lsiott keeps ther short cut in her hand bag."

Faryn decided that her brain would explode if she thought about it too long, so she just nodded and started toward the heaping piles of junk.

Soon, it became clear that not all of the pillars of smoke were just that. As they passed one, a face shown in it, mouth open wide in the expression of a wail, but soundless. The girl blinked, and decided she was just hungry and seeing things. Moments later, they passed another and she had to ask.

Ukee glanced at her as though she were losing her mind. "I don't see anyfing."

She examined the wailing gusts of smoke from the corner of her eye, daring not to let them realize they had her attention. _Ghosts_, Faryn thought with a vicious shiver and a nervous glance at the darkening sky. The clouds had begun to leave, but now they rolled in again. Great, heaving, black clouds. She hated ghosts. They were cold and had scarred her as a child. Eric had taken her to a church when she told him at five years old that ghosts couldn't possibly exist. He'd locked her in the bell tower, and she'd never contradicted him since. There had been more wraiths in that tower than she could see in the vast junkyard. She didn't want to see them. Nothing had ever frightened her as much as the soundless open maw of something dead. Faryn had always thought she'd gotten over the fear, yet now it stared her viciously in face proving her wrong.

"Keep talking to me, Ukee. Keep me sane," she petitioned the goblin as she moved them quickly along the tiny, obscure path between hills. She put her head down, concentrating on each step. She didn't want to see any more _ghosts_.

"Cern I go to college wither my Faryn when yer goes home?"

Faryn laughed, about to tell the goblin that would be silly, because she wasn't going home, when she paused. Her steps continued unaffected as she realized she was about the tell the goblin that would be silly because she wasn't going home. Wasn't going home?

When had she decided that? She heard the quiet din of the little blue goblin talking, but didn't understand a thing she said. The whole time she'd been in the labyrinth, she'd never intended to return home. It hadn't crossed her mind to wonder how she would solve the labyrinth, but she didn't intend to leave it.

Regardless of the awful smells that clogged the air from time to time, it seemed fresher here, and calmed her to breathe it. There had been two attempts on her life - twice as many as she'd face at home - and still more certainly awaited her. The Goblin King had stolen her brother and given aid to her cruel father in his youth. There were wraiths hanging out in open air.

She had never felt as calm here as she had anywhere else.

Faryn was forced to wince as a column of sunlight struck her eyes. Then Ukee tugged on the mangled braid by her ear hard enough to wake her from her reverie.

"Faryn!"

"Yes, I'm here now, Ukee. What is it?"

The goblin pointed straight ahead at a hunched goblin woman that Faryn might have run over, if not for Ukee's interruption. The goblin had a huge bag of odd pieces of junk slung over her back, blending in almost perfectly with the surrounding hills. Her face was oval, and split near the bottom with what Faryn assumed was a mouth. Straggly hair stuck out at odd angles from under a bandanna that had obviously come from one of the piles. One orange eye was larger than the other and she seemed to be scowling at Faryn.

"Well girl, what is it," the goblin demanded impatiently. "I haven't got all day!"

"Agnes?"

"Yes, yes," she shrieked, her voice seeming to have been previously unused. "What do you want?"

"We," Faryn paused, patting Ukee's side affectionately. "That is, I have to return Ukee to the King, and we need to see Hel'lsiott to get there in time." She reeled at how quickly the lies had sprung to her lips. Faryn didn't feel like she could trust this goblin at all.

"Why? What's wrong with the squat brat," Agnes asked, pulling her heavily laden body forward to look closer.

Playing along, Ukee held out her left paw and moaned. "Sprained!"

Agnes grumbled for a while, looking between girl and goblin, then studying Faryn's clothes so closely that she picked up one arm to examine the dress. Faryn stood as still as she could, trying to ooze absolute honesty and confidence.

"All right, then." The goblin turned around, becoming almost lost among the junk. "This way!"

Faryn discovered a yellow lampshade to the right of Agnes' bundle, keeping her eyes on that as they walked. Thankfully, it wasn't far.

"In ya go," Agnes said, pointing at a tent flap Faryn would otherwise have missed.

"Thank you," she praised the goblin honestly. As soon as she touched the tent flap, though, she was frozen in place as memories that were not her own flashed before her eyes like current events.

Another girl, so similar in face with lighter, straight, hair had followed Agnes and gone through this same door. Her mother. She felt the confusion Sarah had gone through seep into her mind, threatening to make her lose hold of her quest. Viciously she fought it back, and she was at last saved by Ukee purring in her ear.

"What is it," Agnes demanded, glaring at her.

"Sarah was here," Faryn responded in a daze, still poised halfway between entering the tent and the junkyard.

Agnes the goblin laughed. "Yea, that's right. The minx almost fell into our trap, too! Silly girl."

Swallowing her rebuke, Faryn pushed into the tent.

Inside was a broken room with yellowed walls. The far wall was almost entirely missing, broken pots and shattered political objectives poured in from outside the wall. Junk littered the floor and what had once been a bed. Against the right wall, a desk sat, with the frame of a shattered mirror suspended on the wall behind it.

At the desk, Hel'lsiott sat. From the back, she looked exactly like Agnes. When she turned to them, though it became clear that she didn't look like Agnes, and she hadn't been sitting.

About a foot shorter than the outside goblin, Hel'lsiott's face was triangular, and her mouth seemed to be just a speck above her chin. She wore a bent breastplate over her tiny frame, and the garbage that covered her back seemed to be a cloak instead of a bag. As soon as the goblin noticed Ukee, she grinned and her tiny mouth became a giant maw that threatened to make her face disappear altogether.

"Ukee," she called delightedly, her voice surprisingly clear and beautiful.

The blue goblin leapt from Faryn's shoulder to the stubby arms of Hel'lsiott, and the two purred at each other. Ukee sprang back onto the girl's shoulder a moment later. The goblin looked at Faryn patiently, expecting something.

"I've got to solve this labyrinth," the brunette entreated. "Do you know how?"

"I'll help you," Hel'lsiott announced, sending Faryn spinning at how quickly that went.

Unable to contain herself, Faryn burst out, "Your voice is so pretty."

If possible, the clay face of Hel'lsiott blushed. "Thank you. I'm told that I was exceptionally beautiful as a human babe, but that my voice enraptured King Jareth. So he let me keep it when he changed me."

"Awww," the girl couldn't help saying, sending everyone in the room into giggles. 

A faint noise penetrated the room, sounding an awful lot like Agnes chiding them.

"Quickly," Hel'lsiott pressed. She produced a bag from under her arm, putting it on a shelf that lined the wall. She tugged it open and let go, but it kept opening. Soon, a huge stone cavern stood before them, no hand bag in sight.

"My sister's a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. C'mon." Then Hel'lsiott pushed Faryn and Ukee through, following behind.

As soon as the girl turned around, she found the junkyard goblin holding her handbag, looking up expectantly at them from an opening that only stretched on to more cave-like areas. Ahead of them, the stony walls turned into giant limestone brick walls, and Faryn was very confused. It kept changing.

"Thank you," she stated in a daze.

Hel'lsiott grinned, tucking her hand bag away into obscurity again. She untied something at her throat, and the cloak of junk came clanging down, allowing her to stand up straight. The goblin still barely cleared four feet, but she looked much happier about it. "There we go. That would be too loud, anyway."

"Coming with us," Faryn asked, a bit surprised. It was as her mother had said. Nothing was as it seemed.

"Of course. Can't go back now - Agnes will be very cross with me," Hel'lsiott grinned belying the idea that this upset her. "Best to come with you until she cools down. And anything that ruffles his highness' feathers seems like fun to me!"

Faryn looked at Ukee, who simply nodded and purred. "All right then. Let's go."

Hel'lsiott took the lead, moving much faster than Faryn had expected. The short goblin stopped nearly as quickly as she'd started, hissing in a sharp breath.

Ukee groaned.

Faryn looked between the goblins in bewilderment, then understanding. "We're not supposed to be here, are we?"

Hel'lsiott glanced at the girl in shame. "It's an old spell, that. Probably just wore out. I'm sorry, lass." She took the bag from her garments and made as if to throw it away when Ukee sounded her protest.

"Sh'not yer bag, Helsh'. Is Faryn's labyrinph. Is stronger than yer maj'rick," the blue goblin explained as she crouched on Faryn's shoulder. Ukee resembled a cat more than ever, with her hackles raised and her tail twitching in annoyance. "We just has ter go on."

They swept into motion, walking just short of a run through the darkened cavern.

Faryn looked at her mother's clock, discovering that the Wide Tract and the hedges had eaten another two hours. "Oh, my," she said softly. "Only four left, now."

Ukee patted her hair gently.

"Looks like we'll be out soon," Hel'lsiott called back.

Sure enough, moments later they stepped into the light again. The brilliant orange sky hung languidly above them, clouds of blue passing lazily across it. The walls, brick sandstone of a soft tan colour, professed another extension of the maze-like labyrinth with their infrequent openings and easy curves. The calm stone pathway with its random stairs and mismatched squares made the place seem like the twisted thoughts of some lazy summer afternoon.

The rag-tag group turned the corner and all the gentleness and colour was sucked from the labyrinth.

It stood a good head above Faryn's already impressive five foot, eleven inches of height. It wore jointed plates of some thick metal on it's shoulders and thighs. The boots and gauntlets were jointed as well, and riddled with spikes that were mottled by something dark and dry. Beneath the ragged remains of a billowing red kimono a breast plate gleamed dully in the fading light. Two glowing yellow eyes stared out form a dark recess bellow a tri-horned helmet.

No sooner had they blinked at it, then the goblin guard drew a slow, heavy sweep with the massive spiked blade in it's claws. Clutching Ukee tightly, Faryn fell more than dove backwards, landing on Hel'lsiott with a chorus of surprised squeaks. Faryn rolled off of the goblin and promptly forgot her as she quickly crab-crawled around the corner with Ukee clinging to her stomach.

The goblin's shadow stretched around the corner, preceding it's terrible form. It stopped before entering the pathway. With one leg bent in front, it's side facing them, it turned it's head roboticly and rose both arms to turn the sword, point facing Faryn's nose.

"You shall not pass."

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Gonna respond to all my reviewers now… (Ever seven chapters seems like good timing for it…)

JLF - *preens* I'm not-so-secretly very proud of chapter 6. Hence why 11 has taken me so damned long…. I hope this wasn't too much longer! Thank you so much for your constant reviewing, I'm glad you're (or were until I went on hiatus) still interested!

Originalproxy - Oh, that's good to know! It's not seven, as I planned… I edited out two of them, making me only need to get through 11. Which was the problem… Damned Jareth doesn't want his chapter written. *threatens the goblin king some before realizing there isn't cable internet in an oubliette….* So, anywho. Four! And a fifth one as soon as I get it edited…

Icefire - Merci! It's good to know some of the story is surprising. I've read it so many times in the process of writing it that it seems as though it must have been done one hundred times!

Wingsong - Oh, Eric will be much fleshed out as we go along. Believe it or not, this story is the opener to a very twisted series all about him and his serious mental problems… He's not in this much, but his ripples are. Mwahahaha! *hides from Eric*

Aeria Li - *shakey voice* Thank you for reviewing…. *faints from awe* I love your Fury of the Fae!

Winter - I cannot answer your question on the grounds that I may incriminate myself and cause great harm to my person through the wrath of the all-mighty King Jareth…. (But Faryn and Joshua /are/ really cute…)

Lady Fae - Another cliffhanger for you! (If you're still reading….)

JLF… Is such a spiffy author herself, and everyone should go read the two chapters she has of her Robin Hood ficcie, and encourage her to be inspired!


	8. The Song of the Nixes

A/N: Some other points I missed: The seemingly random capitalization of the Labyrinth is not as random as it at first seems. Certain characters know things that give the Labyrinth it's uppercase status, while others do not. I swear it's intentional!

Gilibrithel (And the future mention of his lover, Isilas) are indeed names taken pretty much directly from the Quenyan or Sindarin dialects of Mr. Tolkien's fabulous world. However, while they are elves, they are NOT Tolkien elves. I have my very own "original" (such as they can ever be) form of elves, but I didn't want to bring them into this already over-complex Laby-world. So, I'm afraid there isn't much depth to these folk… I made them up on the spot because I'm infatuated with Craig Parker's smirk and visually modeled Gilibrithel after his Bellerphon (sp?) from Xena...

Enter the bad guy. Poor Sarah's children. They're always and forever fainting….

A/N2: Updated! Been revised by my loverly beta, Genesis Grey. Much thanks to her! The others will be along shortly. Chapter 11's ready, too. 12's halfway there.. Ah, moving right along.

And special thanks to Solain Rhyo for her encouragement. 

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Chapter 08: Song of the Nixes

The sun must have begun to set, because the brilliant orange sky had started to fade to a light and fiery umber. This worried Joshua. The labyrinth was creepy enough with its eyeball lichen, its Loch-Ness monsters roaming a maze made of misshapen stone buildings, and goblins scurrying to and fro chasing chickens. The boy didn't even want to imagine what the place would feel like in the dark of night.

Groeg was leading him stealthily through Goblin Town, telling him when to stay and when to crawl. He did everything the commanding goblin told him to, not thinking too much about any one thing. Had anyone asked, Joshua would never have been able to tell them how he got from the castle wall to the gates of the city.

Slowly, Sarah's son began to regain his awareness. At first in was just a wonder in the back of his mind at the strange feeling on his face, like the tapping of tiny fingers. It broadened to the smell of sea-breeze, and then to the sound of softly falling waves. Eventually, Joshua blinked and realized that it was raining quite heavily on a dense forest. He and Groeg were in the forest, the goblin having led him there without preamble.

"It rains here," he said aloud, half in wonder, half in question.

Groeg stopped, glancing back at the human boy with a shake of his hairy head. "It's a real place, like anywhere else. What were you expecting?"

"Magic," Joshua answered without hesitation.

The goblin continued walking, talking to Joshua over its shoulder. "Well, there's plenty o' that. You don't want to be tangled up in it, trust me."

"Trust you?"

"Yeah," snorted Groeg, "Who else're ya gonna put your faith in?"

"Me, most sensibly," Joshua bantered back. He was following Groeg out of a lack of anywhere else to be. The blond boy shook his head. No, the truth was that he was following the goblin because the Gloamy Sprite had more or less told him too, by having him bring Groeg along. He trusted the glowing lady, owl… creature.

"What is the Gloamy Sprite," he asked the goblin leading him along a forest path fallen into disrepair.

Groeg shrugged. "A warning. She only shows up when something bad is about to happen." He crawled under a fallen tree, catching one horn on a loose knot. It sprang back into place with a, 'sproing!' as he tugged it free.

Joshua stepped over the rotting tree. "So, what was she warning about?"

"You probably," the goblin sneered. "Why do you think I got you out of the castle?"

Up ahead, the forest was beginning to thin. The rain was still strong and distracting, but Joshua was pretty sure he saw a stone walkway through the trees. "Gloamy got us out of the castle," the boy corrected, not really caring.

Groeg stopped in the middle of the path, not even flinching as Joshua nearly tripped over him. "Aren't you going to ask where I'm taking you or why?"

Joshua stared down at the goblin with a half-smirk. He shook his head a moment, then asked, "Oh, of course. Where are we going?"

"I don't want to tell you," snorted Groeg.

"Then why'd you make me waste the time to ask," the boy returned. He was upset, but still too separated from his own senses to really show it. Without waiting for a response, he continued through the foliage into the streaming rain.

They toppled rather unexpectedly onto the beige brick road from the middle of the forest. Joshua pulled his glasses out to look back the way they'd come. Before landing unceremoniously on his rump, he'd been walking in the middle of the forest with Groeg. In the next moment, he'd been falling onto the soaked stone. The glasses didn't help, either. In the rain, they just became a blurry window directly in front of his eyes, so he pushed them atop his head to see as best he could naturally.

"What in the name of the sun, just happened?"

The small goblin had landed on his head, lodging one horn in the soft stone. He was engaged in pulling it out again with all of his strength as he answered. "We are not… err!.. the focus of the Labyrinth. Gaaah! So when it shifts around for your sister… erup!.. so do we. Gahrr!" Groeg toppled backwards, his horns wobbling in opposite ways. They made a strange sound, like thick plastic being waggled. Joshua tried to keep from laughing, but soon discovered that he never had a chance.

Groeg glared at him for a while, then gave up and started looking around. "Think we're on the edge of the Wide Tract of Rottenness," the goblin murmured, half to himself.

"Are you asking me," Joshua jested. He brushed himself off as he stood, straightening his shirt. He wished he'd worn a different colour. In the pouring rain, the white had become transparent. If no one looked closely, though, they might mistake him for a bit of the stone wall. That thought in mind, he threw his arms out and laughed. "Look, I'm a chameleon!"

Groeg looked at the human boy with a long suffering sigh. Then he cocked one horn to the side as he noticed that Joshua was right. The top of the wall was a faded gold-brown like the boy's hair, and then the natural tan colouring of the wall lightened toward the middle, becoming almost white, before fading to a dark olive shade. The goblin grinned, reminding Joshua of a certain Cheshire Cat.

"What," asked the boy warily. He spun around to examine the wall, but caught his heel on a wet pebble. Falling again, Joshua reached out to steady himself, only to discover that the wall wasn't really there.

The blond boy was able to rescue his glasses, but not his face. Joshua landed on his shoulder, but rolled knocking forehead and nose against the cobblestones rather fiercely. Warily, he ran his fingers over his nose. It didn't seem broken, but it was definitely bleeding. The rain made it run in rivulets down his arm as he tried to stifle the thin flow and stand at the same time.

"Are you always this clumsy?"

Joshua glowered at the goblin. "Funny, really funny. Aren't you supposed to be leading me somewhere?"

"Of course. Right back to the castle," Groeg spat. "Come on, then!"

The boy stared in bewilderment over his hand. "What?"

"Where else did you think I'd take you?"

Honestly, he didn't know. Joshua frowned at the goblin, not moving. The Gloamy Sprite had told him to take Groeg along, and he trusted her. But he wasn't going back to the castle. "I'm leading then," he announced on a whim, turning to look back at the wall he'd fallen through.

It was just an illusion, Joshua surmised. The actual wall was about four feet farther back, cleverly disguised to look like it was even with the nearer wall. The white stripe made the illusion work. Willing his nose to stop bleeding even as it began to stain his shirt, Joshua stepped into the new corridor.

Glancing over his shoulder, he asked, "Are you coming?"

Groeg shook his head. "You'll never make it out. The Labyrinth can find you anywhere."

Joshua shrugged, looking to his left and right. Both ways of the corridor looked alike. "I'm not worried about the labyrinth, just it's King." The blond boy looked back at the goblin. "At least tell me which way to go."

Groeg shrugged. "It doesn't matter. His majesty has too much at stake to let you loose, and you're too easy to find."

"My mother did it, so can I," Joshua challenged.

"Sarah didn't have Eric's blood tainting her like a signal beacon," Groeg snapped. "Do what you want. My way is safer."

"What do you care?"

"I don't." And that was it. Groeg disappeared along the far side of the wall, directly for the castle in the distance. Joshua stomped down the right fork, away from the castle.

Joshua didn't notice that he was pressing the bridge of his nose hard enough to bruise. He was too busy fuming. Confused and angry, he didn't notice the eyeball lichen that watched him pass, or the dark shadow that circled overhead.

What did his father have to do with any of this, anyway? He was only five when his parents had left him, but he was certain he'd remember if his dad had ever been to the labyrinth. He would have told him, right? His father had taught him stupid little spell-words and colours, and never mentioned the labyrinth like his mother had. Someone would have told him.

They would have.

He stopped his storming as the corridor emptied out onto a vast and empty beach. Four entirely different environments surrounded him. The stone maze behind him, which seemed to be receding the longer he stood still. Far in the distance lay a forest that sparkled like emeralds. To his left, a massive yard of junk piles and garbage. To his right, a dreary beach, ripped with abuse from the crashing torrent. The tide seemed to be coming in. "Great," he muttered. "Now where am I?"

Unconsciously, Joshua walked toward the water. The rain pelted against the surging waves without a care, melting the beach as surely as the waves eroded it. He was standing in the middle of an alcove, the shore curving around the forest and maze, even as water covered the horizon. An horizon which was becoming clearer as the rain began to thin.

Just as the last drops seemed to fall, Joshua caught the opening strains of an unfamiliar melody. Nothing more than a shapeless set of notes in the distance, it grew to a mesmerizing crescendo. He forgot to move in its gentle lull, forgot everything but the music. He could make out neither word nor intent, but the syllables were beautiful beyond his wildest dreams. The song was expressed by a female voice, soft and breathy. She sang in a rainbow of notes, smoothly blending the haunting tune with sounds both alluring and frightening.

As the song trailed off, Joshua saw a massive wave had risen over him. He didn't have time to be afraid. The wall of water fell straight to the ground, not toppling over as it should have. The music stopped.

In place of the unnatural wave, stood two tall human figures. One dark, the other shining, they were both possessed of such ethereal beauty that Joshua's jaw dropped.

The shining woman was toned a deep bronze colour, which made the white of her clothing blinding bright. Her dress seemed to be little more than a length of cloth draped over one shoulder. Two slim gold belts held the thin material in place, the lower one hefting a flute-like instrument. She had long blond curls and piercing green eyes between which sat a thin circlet of gold with a strange trident shaped symbol in the middle. She was also particularly well-endowed, forcing Joshua to blush as he tore his gaze away from her.

The darker figure was swathed in metal from neck to toe; thick armor tinted black by age. A long gray cape attached at the shoulder-points flickered in the wind of the sea, hampered by a sword strapped to her back. Surprisingly, the boy found the close cropped dark hair oddly fitting on the radiant warrior. He blushed much deeper as he realized that the dark one was, in fact, male. With rather pointy ears.

"The Ruined Shore." Swallowing, Joshua blinked and realized mere seconds had passed and that the blond was speaking to him. He desperately tried to figure out what she was talking about, but couldn't form words. All of his concentration lay in trying to keep his eyes politely on her face.

"What," he finally asked.

"You asked where you were, did you not?" When he nodded numbly, the radiant royal continued. "Unfortunately for you, the shore of the Seas of Silence is more dangerous than wherever that little cretin was taking you," she smiled. The curve of her lips was brilliant and charming, but it made Joshua feel uneasy.

Without his noticing, the Lady was at Joshua's side. She walked a circle around him, murmuring comments to her companion in another language. When she stood again in front of him, her superior smile was still in place.

"What have we here, Gilibrithel," she asked without looking back at her guardian. It was clear that he protected her, as he examined the horizons before arriving at her side a moment later. His imposing presence pulled Joshua's frozen gaze from the Lady to stare into dark blue eyes.

Joshua swallowed under the dual scrutiny. His mind screamed at him to flee, to turn heel and run until he fell unconscious from exhaustion. The boy had no chance, though. He couldn't even make a finger twitch from where he stood.

"He appears to be human, my Liege," Gilibrithel said, nearly toppling Joshua to the ground with his voice alone. Whatever the guardian was, his voice was deep and even more musical than the Lady's.

"That's what I thought." Her semblance was pleased, but it was the sort of vocalized pleasure one might expect after learning what was for dinner.

Joshua finally found his voice, stammering several times before saying, "Please don't kill me."

The Lady laughed, her head thrown back and her silver lips parted in delight. Her whole body shook with the laughter that seemed less sinister the longer she laughed. She calmed and smiled at him again. This time, it was a gentle look. The blond trailed one finger down Joshua's cheek. "I would never harm such a pretty thing as you," she promised, her eyes half lidded. She took Joshua's hand slowly, as if waiting for him to pull away. It was unnecessary; he was still too terrified to move anywhere.

"Be calm," the Lady coerced, stoking the back of his hand.

He felt calm. He felt his tension and fear draining away at her touch, and welcomed it. "Who are you," he ventured quietly, uncertain of which to look at first.

"I am Calypso Es't-Innen, Queen of the Nixes Kingdoms. You may call me, 'My Lady.'" His hand firmly atop hers, the Lady began to lead Joshua up the shore, back the way he had come. She gestured at her guardian, "He is Gilibrithel, Captain of my personal guard." Queen Calypso eased the charming smile on to her lips again, surprising Joshua when he didn't feel threatened. Her other hand strayed again to the back of his, petting his flesh like the fur of a cat. "Who might you be?"

"Joshua," was all he could manage.

Calypso smiled in reward. "Good. Why are you here, Joshua?"

He felt a blush colouring his cheeks again, and managed to look away from her captivating green eyes. He got no further than the interested expression of Gilibrithel. "Er.. Uh, My sister... She wished me away, I guess."

The Queen laughed softly. "Ah. That does happen a lot around here. Doesn't it, Gilibrithel?"

The guardian smiled, looking away from them both to watch the inner shore instead.

"I thought Jareth was the King," Joshua asked abruptly. He regretted it in the next breath, as Calypso's eyes clouded with an acid look. The devastating gaze vanished a moment later, replaced by her soothing smile.

"King Jareth is lord of the Labyrinth and of the goblins," Queen Calypso explained sweetly. "Yet this is just one of _many_ Nixes kingdoms, over which I rule _all_." She emphasized her words with equal helpings of pride and vice.

Joshua's eyes widened in awe. This seemed to please the Queen, as she returned to the companionable smile she'd had before the mention of the Goblin King. They walked in silence, giving the boy time to marvel at how the castle seemed to move about. It loomed in the distance, much nearer than it had been the last time he'd looked for it. Yet, the forest stretched beside them, little red lights dancing in it. It wasn't fair. He was trying to get away from all that weirdness.

Calypso followed his gaze, then beamed with a genuine delight he had not yet seen on her face. She dropped his hand and danced to the forest edge, calling out in the language she had sung with. The red lights dimmed, then surged from the cover of the forest. In truth, they were the twelve eyes of some sort of goblin beasts that closely resembled dogs. Four gargantuan teeth hung from each open maw, even as the green, forked tongued flicked out to lick the hands of the Queen. Calypso ran her hands down each of the three beast's flanks, then checked all four of each of their eyes. It was when she was murmuring to them in the foreign tongue that Gilibrithel cursed quietly.

Glancing up at the guardian, Joshua felt paralyzed again. Gilibrithel offered him a quick but disarming smile before holding out his hand. Somehow, the dark Captain had gotten hold of his glasses. He slapped a hand to the top of his head, confirming that they were, indeed, missing.

When Joshua only stared at him, Gilibrithel restrained a laugh. Opting instead for a smirk, the guardian took Joshua's hand, putting the glasses onto it. Hands free once more, the guardian crossed his arms behind himself, letting his cape continue to sway in the wind over them.

Hands shaking, he managed to place the frames back on his nose, wincing as they landed on the bruised appendage. He remembered the blood, and wiped his face with the still-sopping tee-shirt. Clean again, Joshua licked his lips, then said, "You have pointed ears."

Gilibrithel looked down, smiling to himself. "Yes," he said with his lyrical voice. "I am an elf, not a nix." He cast a sidelong glance at the boy. If Joshua's staring bothered him, he didn't show it. "We are also ruled by her majesty Calypso, if you are curious."

The Queen returned to them then, the three beasts at her heels. She stopped in front of them, standing very close to Joshua. There was a dark look in her eyes when Joshua turned to her. It was gone in the next heartbeat, leaving the boy to wonder if it had ever really been. The blond Queen rested her hand on the head of a goblin-beast who sat next to her leg, scratching its scalp absent-mindedly.

"So your sister wished you away," Calypso said, her tone concerned and apologetic, while her face held nothing of the sort. "How awful you must feel."

"She didn't mean it," the boy croaked. He knew she didn't mean it. She couldn't have. Faryn liked him...

"Of course not," the Queen conceded. "I am curious, though."

Joshua looked at the blond royal, willing her on, but afraid of what she would ask.

"Even with the innate magic you possess, and having escaped from the castle," she paused and looked at him from the corner of her eyes, as though expecting him to understand her question. At his quizzical expression, the Lady sighed.

"You should be a goblin by now, Joshua," the Queen explained. "Your special situation in mind, the goblin transformation spell takes effect in no more than a week after a girl has failed to best the Labyrinth."

Joshua frowned in confusion. "But my sister just entered the labyrinth."

As if his words confirmed something the queen already knew, her gaze grew guarded and cruel. "What is your surname, Joshua?"

"Talenka," the boy answered, still very lost.

"Such a pity," Queen Calypso said emptily. "You would have made a fine guardian knight." Her words dripped acid, and her eyes threw daggers, paralyzing the human boy once more. She held her palm out, then brought her fingers together to form a pedestal. The air around her hand seemed to rush inward, creating a blue globe on her fingertips. She smiled sardonically, commanding, "Gilibrithel." She tossed the orb at her guardian.

The elf caught it easily, but it was no longer a blue ball. Instead, a dagger that seemed made of blue glass lay in the guardian's hand. "My Liege," Gilibrithel protested.

"The Ogthropes are ample protection, Captain. Triste will join me later, if you still fret," she stated with an icy note before turning up the beach and stalking away.

It wasn't until Gilibrithel turned to him, that Joshua realized he should have been running away. Of course, it was too late now. The elf guardian snaked his arm around Joshua, the blue dagger in his other hand. Sarah's son had just enough time to realize that the elf's eyes matched the colour of the happy, sunny sky behind him, before he fainted.


	9. Eclectic Personas

A/N2: All edited. One more and we'll start on new chapters! I must admit this little break is useful, because it gave me the extra time I needed to get ahead again and revamp my webcomic...

A/N: More definitions!  
salmagundi \sal-muh-GUHN-dee\, noun:  
1. A salad plate usually consisting of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, served with oil and vinegar.  
2. Any mixture or assortment; a medley; a potpourri; a miscellany.

New perspective chapter! I realize this bouncing POV thing I'm doing might seem a little odd, but… I blame that wholly on this being my first time doing it. The story itself demanded it, I'm afraid. Certain things needed to be told from times when no one else was around. Ripples…

Enjoy!

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Chapter Nine : Eclectic Personas

The Goblin Castle towered over the meager salmagundi village, casting its great shadow over half of the vast Labyrinth at this late hour. Not that time meant anything in particular in the realm of the goblins. A sovereign with half the power of the current Goblin King could control weather, time, and of course, the entire topography, on a whim. Lady Night reared to the fore because the King wished to hold a Masquerade Ball, and adored tradition well enough to will it take place in Her dark arms.

High Lord Jareth, King of the Labyrinth and the Goblins had a nonsensical adherence to order, of a sort. As children, the quirk had always amused Calypso. He insisted on learning and performing spells and castings only at the appropriate time, in the customary manner. Calypso had learned early on that magic still worked regardless of when or where, or sometimes even how. She chose to perform her castings whenever she felt the need. This made her magic far more frequent and noticed, but even she had to admit that Jareth's had always been more potent.

Queen Calypso frowned on her brother's castle. Yes, he was the stronger mage, naturally. However, with perfect timing and preparation, he would be hard pressed to reach a standstill with her while she had the power of the Nixes Kingdoms backing her. The Labyrinth's castle was a testament to the boon of Ruling Power, however small Jareth's boon might be.

Before he had become King of the Labyrinth, Jareth had only the ruling power of the goblins. He had to seduce the enigmatic landscape into accepting him by natural charm and all of the power at his command. With the boon from the Labyrinth itself, he had then built the castle that now taunted her eyes with its power. It was built from the very rock of a preternatural spear of mountain in exactly one year, starting and ending on high summer day, and lay near the heart of the Labyrinth. With such precision, it harnessed the ever-changing energies of its mistress, the animal carnage and wit of the goblins it watched over, and the brilliant charm of its King.

Calypso wanted nothing more than to rip it from the skyline, and abolish every trace that it had ever existed. In particular, she focused her damning rage on the second tallest tower and the one just below it. She had not seen those towers in almost one hundred years, since the day she had come for their christening. She had not noticed them on her last visit to the Labyrinth, two days before the brutal murder of her daughters.

Eric had created and erected them, as a sort of take-home test to prove his mastery of the Labyrinth. She wanted them to crumble to dust and burn the flesh of anyone that had ever supported the madman. She wanted every particle that the human-turned-nix had ever touched to spontaneously combust and burn until nothing was left. Most of all, she wanted to feel the flesh twist and bend under her fingertips as she strangled the man himself, draining away every ounce of magic he had wrested from her brother, her world, and her daughters.

The rabid yapping and baying of the Ogthropes brought the Queen of the Nixes Kingdoms from her red thoughts. They had attacked a defenseless goblin that had crossed their path, a response to the emotions rolling from Calypso. The tiny thing had been torn into two pieces. One Ogthrope played with half while the other two tossed the remaining bit between them like a toy. With a thought and a gesture, she soothed them.

It would not do to enter her dear brother's castle with mad goblin hounds frothing at her heels.

Calypso again found herself frowning at the castle all over again. Standing at the base in a secluded goblin garden, it was even larger than the blond remembered. She had come with only her Captain to assure a quiet entry. Now that she stood dwarfed by the Labyrinth's spire, Queen Calypso had no desire to enter the main door, unattended. Nor did she wish to waste any more time than necessary.

"Come," she commanded the Ogthropes. They let out a collective yip then dashed to her ankles, gathering in a huddle before her. The Queen of the Nixes Kingdoms coiled herself about the goblin hounds, singing softly under her breath. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen the faint blue glow that seeped from her skin like smoke, swirling to form a perfect bubble all around her. Fully formed, the orb shrank in on itself, until it was no larger than the Queen's own fist. With the faint breeze, it began to rise along the wall of the Goblin Castle. Up, and up, and up, and in.

The blue bubble hovered into the window of the tallest spire, floating through a busy room. Goblins filled the throne room from edge to opening, tossing, fighting, eating, drinking, maiming, and generally doing disgusting goblin things. They didn't notice the dangerous bauble listing above their heads.

Along the wall farthest from the only door, sat the massive throne that had existed long before Jareth's rule. It was made of the bone of some massive creature from the dreams of mortals, cased in Labyrinth stone, and sealed with goblin blood. Calypso had said it was grotesque. Jareth had simply laughed and called it appropriate.

It was around this throne that the blue orb swirled. On it, the Goblin King had draped himself, one leg thrown over an arm of the throne as he rest against the other. Jareth ignored all of the room as he focused on an airy crystal in his fingers. Images flashed quickly through it, as though the King were searching for something. The blue orb glowed in amusement. The Queen knew he had lost the boy.

The glow caught Jareth's attention, and he twitched his head violently to look at it.

Suddenly noticed, the blue bubble floated away from the Goblin King, to stop near the heart of the room. It drifted downward, coming to rest on the dirty and broken floor like a loosed feather. It hesitated, then burst, like any other bubble that had ever touched stone.

In the wake of bubble fragments, Queen Calypso appeared, her head tilted upward as her golden locks flared in the rush of the high wind. The Ogthropes fanned out from her feet, snapping and snarling at any goblin that came too near.

And near they came, as every goblin that had been happily enjoying the highest room a moment before went rushing from it in a frenzy so fierce there would be bruises.

Calypso's smirk settled dominantly on her features. She couldn't have made a better entrance if she'd brought the entirety of the Nixes court to lay waste to the Labyrinth.

Jareth got to his feet, anger flashing quickly on his face before falling behind a mask that mirrored her own. Staring at him, she remembered how they had pretended to be one another when they were children and still undeveloped enough to pull it off. They had perfected that half amused smirk together.

"My darling brother," the Queen greeted. She pressed a hand to her heart and held it out flat to Jareth, a common greeting among family. She didn't expect it to be returned, and she wasn't disappointed. "I am pleased to see that you have finally broken your ward's enchantment on the Labyrinth. I was so worried."

Where Calypso's dulcet tones echoed from the walls of the newly emptied throne room, Jareth's darker ones did not follow. She had expected as much. He'd sworn to never speak to her again when she'd tried to topple his castle through their mirror. The mirror been enchanted by their mother in a set with the one Calypso kept to always allow them communication, even when their father had separated them. Jareth had smashed his when she'd threatened him.

The Queen shook her head back into the present. "So, you aren't even going to protest to explain that _she_ did it? I must have misjudged how much you cared for this one. Perhaps you want to explain how she did it?"

Jareth crossed his arms over his chest. Crystal forgotten, it drifted in the air and dissolved a moment later. He kept his lips pressed in a thin angry line, no doubt willing her away with the glare he pressed on her from afar.

Calypso put one hand on her hip, dipping her head to let her golden curls fall over one shoulder as her other hand stroked the head of a resting Ogthrope. "I guess it's true; Girls mature faster. Thousands of years old, and still giving his sister the silent treatment."

This time, the Goblin King made a noise. He snorted.

"So attractive, brother. Is that what drew you to her? Faryn Talenka's gentle personality and attractive form. So alike to both her parents. With her, you'd never be without either of them. And she has little will of her own. Little Faryn just wants everyone to be happy. Oh, and her mommy back. Boo-hoo." Calypso felt the ripple of a brief pang of guilt. A ripple was nothing like an actual emotion, the nixes Queen had discovered years ago. It came in place of a moment when she thought she ought to experience an emotion. She _should_ feel guilt for belittling Faryn's pain. Her most precious ones had been stolen from her by the same hand as young Faryn's. Calypso _should_ be polite to, and proud of, Sarah's daughter for surviving so long as a gentle person.

She resented her instead. It was a much better emotion than guilt, anyway.

Her attack on the girl elicited no response from her stubborn brother. She decided to try a more direct approach.

"What do you think she'll do when she realizes that you don't have the runt any longer?"

Jareth's eyes narrowed to fine points as he sucked in his lower lip to bite and stay silent. Both knew it was impossible. Finally he snapped, "You have no right to interfere in the working of my Kingdom, Calypso."

Delighted, the golden twin could contain herself no longer. She spun on one heel and crouched to the Ogthrope at her feet, running her fingers lovingly along its twisted face. "Oh, he can speak," She exclaimed to the hound, as though it were the most fantastic thing to ever happen. Giving the Ogthrope a light pat, she stood proudly again and smiled at Jareth. "I'd begun to think you'd lost your voice. Surely _my brother_ wouldn't be so inconsiderate as to neglect greeting his own twin."

Jareth's glower was just shy of heavenly damnation. He snarled at her silently, clutching his crossed arms even tighter, as though trying not to strangle her. The image amused Calypso to no ends. She wanted to laugh at having incensed her twin, but could not. She had a very specific goal in mind for this meeting. It was no cordial call of Queen to vassal, or sister to brother. As always, Calypso wanted something. Why lift a finger for any other reason?

As if from a mystical bag of tricks, she reached into her heart and pulled the masks of adoration and innocence, oozing them through her form. She beamed at her brother, her golden skin and hair practically glowing with the weight of such lofty emotions. Her voice didn't change as quickly as her face, coming out somewhat acidly as she warned, "I was unaware that I was restricted in any way in _any_ of my kingdoms, my darling brother."

Calypso tilted her head to one side, a look that had always gotten Jareth on her side when they'd been children. Her voice came out sugary this time, finally in line with her charismatic ooze. "Let's not fight, though. It all works out in the end - isn't that what Eric was always saying?"

Jareth reacted as she expected he would. He barked a laugh of disbelief. She could see her actions soften him, slightly though. He was definitely talking to her again.

"First you ask not to fight, then you say his name," he said, shaking his head. "What do you want, _my Queen_," he asked, apparently tired with the conversation. He uncrossed his arms, letting them fall, defeated, to his sides.

The Queen of the Nixes Kingdoms was not one to show your tire of. She ground her teeth together in an effort to retain her hard won mask. Jareth would pay in time, she reminded herself. At hand was a more pressing matter. A more personal one. If she could reach the children, Jareth need only pay for teaching the Waste of Flesh his magic.

Self-assured once more, her masks fell into place without command. Three quick strides brought her to Jareth's side, and the goblin hounds surrounded them.

In defense, the Goblin King pulled his arms across his chest again.

Heedless of his stance, Calypso stepped closer, putting a hand on the juncture of his arms. "I want to make things right, Jareth," she promised. While she meant it honestly, she didn't mean it the way he would take it. It was time to lay the dice.

"I've brought you a gift."

Slowly, she brought her free hand about in a wide circle. The kegs of laced liquor she'd held in between worlds as she'd traveled coalesced by the far side of the room. Her hand came to a pause before the Goblin King's face, a blue crystal on her fingers. So similar to his own bubbles of magic, and yet so different.

"If you want to leave alcohol for the goblins, feel free," Jareth mocked. He had no idea that she'd done anything more than bring liquor for his drunkard goblins, nor would he before it was too late. She didn't expect him to accept her gifts, but she wished he would. It would make things so much easier.

Calypso's expectations did not fall through. Jareth brought up one hand, so similar to her own, and pushed the proffered gift away. "I don't want your crystal."

The Queen shook her head, as though he had just damned himself to eternal pain. It would only make things slightly more difficult. If the girl reached the castle, Calypso would have to discover another avenue to reach her. No matter, and no reason to let Jareth know that. Time was short. "Why must you always make things difficult," she implored.

Calypso turned from her brother, calling the Ogthropes to her with short clicks and whistles on her tongue. They swarmed her feet as she reached the archway that led to the staircase out, where she paused. Glancing over her shoulder she said forlornly, "I have to give the gift to _her_ now."

Jareth gave his first look of heartfelt emotion; a grin that Calypso did not like the look of. His grin twisted as words came, ever so amused. "Oh, but you can't find her. Can you, little sister?"

The unexpected finally happened as she felt anger well in her heart as a response. It flooded until she was so full of the red emotion that she burst, letting loose a mad shriek that followed her down the stairs and away from the castle.

Jareth would know her wrath, but she would find that mistake of reproduction, first.

And she would destroy Faryn Talenka.


	10. Nefarious Deeds

Chapter X: Nefarious Deeds

A/N: This chapter is secretly titled, "Girl's Night Out." But I decided, "Nefarious Deeds," was far more appropriate…

There's a scene in here you'll recognize from the last chapter. Or, I hope you will. I didn't change any of the spoken words, just the actions as they were seen from different eyes. Took me forever to decide which should go first. Hope it isn't too repetitive!

The next chapter probably is what you're thinking it is, by the way.

A/N2: Okay, now I've caught my beta up. She's so lovely. Everyone praise Genesis Grey, and go read her Mists of Valinor story, if you like Lord of the Rings. Chapter 11 should appear in less than an hour of this update, so, huzzah! Then chapter 12 next week, as long as my wrist doesn't keep me from completing the update. Not much longer to go until the story's done!

Read happily! 

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Were she not spurred on by the imposed time limit of the labyrinth, Faryn might have been wholly content to lay there staring at the sword-wielding goblin. As it was, she took back her footing the moment she realized the goblin would come no further.

She had to reason it out logically, Faryn thought, holding the shivering Ukee like a comforting doll. The labyrinth seemed to present threatening obstacles only when she was lost or there was a spell of Eric's to be broken. Yet, her mother's old warning rang in her ears as she stared at the goblin.

_Nothing is as it seems in this place._

Pinning the goblin with what she hoped was something resembling a death glare, Faryn covered Ukee with her sleeves and squared her shoulders. Then she commanded, "I am on a quest for the King. Get out of my way!"

The goblin didn't move. Instead, the deep monotone voice countered, "Even King Jareth wouldn't send a _girl_ into the Goblin Hoard."

"The path has lead me here," Faryn continued. She was desperately trying to seem important and imposing, but doubted she appeared anything other than plain arrogant. "So here I must pass. Who are you to bother me?"

"Candlewic, Keeper of the Hoard."

"And what is in the Hoard that you deem too terrible for a female to see?"

If it weren't for the very frightening sight Candlewic presented of himself, Faryn would have thought the shifting of his feet from one to the other to be a sign of nervousness. "You don't need to know," he answered at last.

Ukee chose to make her presence known, poking her blue head out from the safety of Faryn's arms. "His madge-resty might have let ther blockering of his Lady pass, but he will be very upshet when he hears that yer refoosed to ansher her queschurn."

That seemed to cause actual fear to take root in the goblin guard's heart, as the glowing yellow eyes widened, and his pointed nose peeked out from the shadows of the helmet in distress. "You," the goblin said, half in command, half plea. C„ndlewic seemed to still be uncertain, but finally continued. "You can pass if you beat me at something."

Wary, Faryn tilted her head to one side. "What thing?"

Candlewic inclined his head to the blue goblin who was now perched regally on Faryn's shoulder. "She can decide."

"Riddles," Ukee announced without hesitation. "My Lady will ask yer a queschurn, and if yer gets it riot, we gots ter go a differn't way. If yer gets it wrong, we get ter pass."

The goblin guard shifted feet again, but finally agreed, much to Faryn's dismay. She did well enough at answering them, but didn't know any riddles herself. She had no idea what she was supposed to ask. Being a denizen of the labyrinth, a home of riddles and mischief, she assumed the goblin would find most of her ideas simple. Before she had much chance to despair, Ukee began whispering something in her ear. A riddle that she repeated aloud.

"I hound your every step, and you cannot outrun me. Neither wind, nor water, nor extremes of temperature can sway my path. I stalk you night, and day - and though you may lose me in the dark between twilight and dawn, I will not lose you. Who am I?"

Faryn had assumed the goblin would protest Ukee's aid, but he either did not notice, or did not care as he set to scratching his chin. A look of puzzlement crossed the creature's face which peaked out of the shadows of his helmet as he thought. Then sadness.

Finally, Candlewic bowed his head and stepped to one side. "I don't know," he answered, his voice so forlorn that Faryn almost wished she didn't have to pass him.

But time was running out.

"Thank you," the dark haired girl congratulated as she dashed passed.

"Wait," Candlewic called out. He clanked and banged, chasing after her. "What was the answer?"

"Your shadow," said a baritone voice ahead of them all. Faryn and Ukee screeched to a halt, the human girl nearly falling over as she used her heels to avoid colliding with the new goblin.

Faryn glowered at the goblin who was half her height and shaped like an upside-down pear. His round helmet was the largest part of him, with a shaped nose and eye slits like eye lids. It rose to three points to the back of its head and sprouted a wilted feather from each. Lengths of unwashed and unkempt hair flowed from under the helmet, giving Faryn the distinct impression that even if the goblin were helmet-less, one could not make out his face. Next was the spear it had pointed squarely at her chest. Twice the goblin's height, it slimmed to a wicked set of points that dripped a yellow syrup. Its armor consisted of a breastplate, boots, and guards at knee, elbow, and hand that each resembled a goblin face - undoubtedly his own. The sword sheathed and held in its other hand was ornate, though not beautiful to her eyes, and seemed more a part of the armor than the weaponry.

Faryn was slowly deciding that goblins were very vain creatures.

Her temper appeared as goblin after goblin insisted in forestalling her. She took a deep breath, flicked her long hair back over her shoulder, and demanded to know who now dared to bar her path.

"I am Lampsonius, Keeper of the Goblin Hoard," the goblin drawled, uncaring of Faryn's rolling eyes. "He," Lampsonius pointed to the wall on his left and slightly behind, "is Agmour, the last Keeper of the Hoard."

Faryn's throat froze as she remembered losing sight of Hel'lsiott. The fair-voiced goblin was being held at sword-point by a goblin only half her height. Agmour's armor appeared well made. The helmet swooped to points here and there, was studded with horns, and hinged to close like a knight's helmet. All of the armor gleamed blue-silver and was jointed for ease of movement, down to the guard that shielded its hairy tail. The sword Agmour threatened Hel'lsiott with was twice the goblin's size. He seemed to have no problems holding it aloft to press under Hel'lsiott's chin, forcing her against the wall.

So goblins were not only vain, they went about using weaponry that was too big for them.

Faryn shook her head, staring at the new goblins through a slimly restrained haze of anger. Normally she was quite good at keeping her temper, and showing people only what they needed to see. At the moment, the brunette felt like screaming at the top of her lungs. Faryn had read that damned book from cover to cover a million times, and remembered her mother's story as clearly as a traumatized nine year old could. Yet, she could not recall sweating hedges, or ghosts in the junkyard, or goblin warriors outside the city, or hulking ogre-things beating people over the head with turnips! Why, oh why, was _this_ labyrinth so vicious?

Faryn stomped her foot and let out a shriek, "This is so unfair!"

All the goblins were shocked by an outburst from the quiet girl, but Hel'lsiott and Ukee recovered faster. Hel'lsiott batted the sword from her throat, taking it away from Agmour in the same motion. Ukee launched from Faryn's shoulder, clawing at Lampsonius' unprotected shoulders until the goblin dropped his spear and sword to bat her off.

Accidentally, the human girl caught the wicked spear before it fell into her face, turning it on the scratched goblin before she had a chance to think. Then she looked for her friends. Ukee had picked up the hefty sword in her small mouth and dropped it behind Faryn's legs. Hel'lsiott smiled at her from where she held Agmour pinned at the point of his own sword.

"Candlewic," Lampsonius shrieked. "Don't just stand there!"

Faryn tensed, expecting a blow from behind. It never came.

Instead, the most imposing of the three Keepers of the Goblin Hoard stepped up to her side and fixed a glower on his comrade. "I cannot fight her," he snarled in a low, gravely, voice. "It's in the rules."

Hel'lsiott's captive croaked, "He's right, Cap'n. We saw her beat him."

"Shut up, Agmour," Lampsonius grumbled as he awkwardly stood up. "I don't need to be reminded that you two have gotten us slaved to one such as _her_."

The way the goblin slurred his reference to her made Faryn want to scream all over again. "What rules?"

Candlewic turned his yellow eyes to her. "If you best a Keeper in contest, they are bound to your service." He pressed his mailed fingers gently over Faryn's, releasing the spear from her hold. When he held it out to Lampsonius, she made a noise of protest.

The goblin held out his hand to stop her. "These rules are older than Jareth. Your contest with the Labyrinth will not affect our loyalty." Over his shoulder, Agmour took his sword back from Hel'lsiott, sheathing it along his back.

Faryn looked to Ukee for reassurance. The blue goblin merely shrugged. Faryn had to ask, "How do you know I'm not simply a visitor?"

Agmour snorted and Candlewic seemed to recede into his helmet for shame. Lampsonius, who Faryn was fast figuring to be the smartest of the three, finally responded. "His majesty would not allow a relative of Eric Talenka's to wander the Labyrinth in any other capacity."

"Faryn," Ukee interrupted the girl's fuming before it had begun. The blue goblin held the silver clock before her. The hands moved in a mesmerizing counter-clockwise manner, ever slowly. Not slowly enough, she realized as the hands settled to read three hours, twenty five minutes - and counting.

"I've got to get to the castle at the center of the labyrinth," she told the Keepers quickly. "Do you know the way?"

The goblins looked between each other. Lampsonius and Candlewic settled on staring at Agmour, who sighed and nodded his head. "Aye, we've been to the heart before."

Faryn clapped her hands, then blushed at her reaction. "Good, let's go then!"

Agmour took the lead down the path they had guarded. Lampsonius and Candlewic lingered behind, bickering. When she glanced back at them, Lampsonius was securing something to a door in the wall that she hadn't previously noticed.

"Jareth's going to be miffed," Candlewic admitted forlornly.

"You're worried about Jareth? Do you realized that we haven't left the Hoard unguarded in millennia? _I'm_ miffed!" He pulled his hand away, dragging with it the disk he had twisted into, or out of, the door. Faryn's eyes caught the device as though it had called her name. Lampsonius tucked it into a pouch of some sort under his armor. Not before Faryn had seen the woven star etched in black on the surface. A strange jagged star, with two too many points.

"Faryn, hurry," Ukee urged. The human girl picked up her pace, catching up to Agmour in a breath. The other two Keepers caught their heels quickly. She longed to ask what the disk was, but the goblin had hidden the bag away beneath his layers of gleaming armor. She didn't need any more distractions. There was little more than three hours left, and she had a long way to go.

Their pace was quick, the goblins moving along at a trot beside Faryn's long-legged stride. The time was telling on her as she trusted her fate to Ukee's guiding lisp. The blue goblin directed the others as to what was safe and what wasn't, occasionally having a quick argument with one of the Keepers as they negotiated their path. Hel'lsiott and Faryn remained silent as the human girl's mind slipped away.

Joshua.

She was worried about him. More than she liked to admit. Her mother had said no harm had come to Uncle Toby while he'd been the King's 'Guest.' But he was just a baby when he'd been there - he didn't even remember it. And there were the other matters. Everyone seemed angry at her because of Eric. Joshua was just as guilty of being his offspring, but he was just a kid. Just a fifteen-year old, shy, boy. He played computer games and hacked the Internet. He stammered when a girl tried to talk to him at school. He'd been beaten up in elementary for being the smallest. Joshua was no match for the terrors the labyrinth could present.

Yet, Sarah had been fifteen when she had entered the labyrinth.

"_Girls mature faster_," a voice echoed in her head. The soft stone walls around her dissolved or twisted, widening the corridor into a great room. A swooping throne lay at one end, strewn with cloth and bone. An archway opened opposite the throne, a small glow pouring up the stairs it showed. The wall across from her had three great empty windows. Faryn knew she had to be in the room to see it, but she felt she wasn't. Nor did she knew how she got there.

Only three goblins were in the throne room, if that's what they were. They reminded her more of Norse hell-hounds than anything, with four eyes and huge teeth dripping saliva. They stood next to the human figure with glowing blond hair.

Jareth stood beside his throne, his arms crossed in disdain, glowering at the woman the goblin hounds guarded. For her part, the woman seemed unfazed. She had been the one to speak, and now stood with a smirk that oozed sarcasm. Something was strange about her. Her hair gleamed a bright gold, rivaling the blinding white of her open-sided dress. It took Faryn a moment of confusion to realize that the dress was actually held on by two belts, not magic.

The moment the woman opened her mouth, Faryn realized what seemed so off. She was a feminine mirror of King Jareth. She was more rounded than the angular King, and her nose turned up instead of swooping down like an owl's beak, but there was no mistaking the eerie similarities.

"What do you think she'll do when she realizes that you don't have the runt any longer," the woman asked in a voice that sounded like poison.

"You have no right to interfere in the working of my Kingdom, Calypso," Jareth bit each word short.

The woman, Calypso, turned to the goblin hound at her heel and winked. "Oh, he can speak!" She straightened, giving the dog a pat as she lowered her lashes at the Goblin King. "I'd begun to think you'd lost your voice. Surely _my brother_ wouldn't be so inconsiderate as to neglect greeting his own twin."

If looks could kill, Faryn thought, it was little wonder Jareth had become the Goblin King.

Suddenly, Calypso beamed. The look transformed her into something cute and sugary, while making Faryn's stomach clench. It was such an easy move that the woman had to be methodical or maniacal, and either one spelled trouble.

"I was unaware that I was restricted in any way in any of my kingdoms, my darling brother," she said, her voice still having the hard edge of murder to it. Then her tone changed like her expression. "Let's not fight, though. It all works out in the end, isn't that what Eric was always saying?"

Jareth gave a short, loud laugh. "First you ask not to fight, then you say his name. What do you want, _my Queen_?" He sneered her title as if he'd done it a thousand times before.

Calypso's jaw clenched. Faryn silently cheered the Goblin King, even as she wondered what Calypso ruled.

The Queen relaxed, her delighted smile came back on her face. She crossed the distance to her brother, laying a hand on his crossed arms. "I want to make things right, Jareth. I've brought you a gift."

Calypso swung her other hand elegantly in the air. Beside one arched window, four barrels resembling ancient kegs appeared. Then she twisted her wrist, bringing hand and arm before the Goblin King's face. A blue crystal, a mirror image of Jareth's water-clear version, manifested on her fingertips.

"If you want to leave alcohol for the goblins, feel free," Jareth scoffed, pushing her hand away with an identical one of his own. "I don't want your crystal."

Calypso shook her head, then walked slowly for the door, the goblin hounds trailing behind her. She paused in the archway, glancing over her shoulder at her brother. "Why must you always make things difficult? I have to give the gift to her now." She seemed honestly remorseful, but the pronoun floated in Faryn's head like an accusation.

She snapped her gaze back to Jareth for some form of reassurance. Faryn was unknowingly rewarded with his smug grin. "But you can't find her, can you, little sister?"

Calypso let out a shriek, tearing down the stairs. Her scream deepened, changing to a repetitive term, until Faryn realized that it was Ukee poking her in the face with a claw and saying her name.

"I'm sorry, I was lost somewhere," Faryn said dazedly as her true surroundings became apparent. They'd just stepped out of the stone maze into a thick forest with a single pathway. The castle's highest tower loomed very near, giving Faryn confidence that it wouldn't be much longer.

Had she seen something real? Did Calypso have her brother, or had she been daydreaming in her worry?

"The cashle is just across ther way, my Faryn," Ukee explained, pointing her tail for emphasis. "But ther Bog of Eternal Stench is between us'n it. You gots ter snap outter yer shock, or we'll have ter go about."

Faryn felt like she was five and being lectured by her mother. With a frown she insisted, "I'm not in shock." When Ukee gave her a look that demanded an explanation, she had nothing ready but the truth. "I had a vision.. I think..."

"What was it," Hel'lsiott asked.

All of the goblins looked her way intently. The human girl shrugged. "I think a Queen Calypso has my brother..."

Ukee squawked, and all eyes turned to the blue goblin. "She'll be after yer next, my Faryn!" From seemingly nowhere, she produced a small peach. "Quickerly, eat this. It will keep yer sahf!" She held the fruit to Faryn with both foreclaws.

She took it from her goblin friend, but warily. The lesson of her mother's peach weighed on her heavily. The book, too, had goblin fruits painted in a dangerous light. Yet, Ukee had been nothing but kind and helpful toward her, looking out for her well-being. The goblin girl wasn't afraid of the King, as Hoggle had been. Faryn trusted Ukee.

Snuffing the fear that boiled in her gut, Sarah's daughter took a large bite of the peach, chewed thoroughly, and swallowed. She had a moment of elation at realizing nothing had happened, and took another bite. The euphoria wasn't to last.

The world swayed, and she was not surprised. She stumbled, catching herself against a rotten stump. The brunette slipped to the ground, the goblin's worried voices little more than an echo in her head.

Faryn never heard Hel'lsiott scream accusations at her blue goblin; her ears were lost to a sweet lullaby of voiceless exotic music. She never saw Ukee scamper toward the castle, the other goblins giving chase; her eyes were lost in the dancing of trees and vines that soon became masked figures. Then came the scent of ash and perfume blends. The feel of silk against her arms. The taste of sweat on the air she breathed.

Her drugged hands slowly smoothed across the front of the broad violet and silver gown of silk and satin. The collar was high and stiff, the sleeves little more than mists against the dark indigo of opera gloves. Ridiculously Faryn's slow mind mused; the bell of the skirt ballooned too much for her tastes, but the slippers were soft.

Her movements were coming more quickly to her, though the crowd pressed in around her. A clock lay suspended beside her, reminding her that she only had two hours left.

But two hours left till what?


	11. Enigma in Your Eyes

A/N: Oh, look, brand new chapter! Yahooie. I both love and hate this chapter, so if you read it, pleasepleaseplease tell me what you think!  
Much thanks again to the fabu Genesis Grey who beta'd this without me even asking! *glomps her*  
I wanted to name this chapter "Queen's Sacrifice" but I realized that there was a future chapter much better suited to that name. I like what I came up with..

Lastly, a question: I want to write Faryn's perspective of this chapter. I most likely will. But, should I write it as the next chapter, or as a side story-drifty thing that's part of the story, but not necessary to read?

Hope you enjoy! 

* * *

Chapter XI: Enigma in Your Eyes

The King of the Labyrinth and goblins was a child of the Nix first, and with that trait came certain abilities no goblin would ever have. The ancient power of the nix lay in the bewitching melody of each voice. With only that, a nix could ensnare the mind and heart of any lesser being. One of the Fair Ones born without a vocal power was said to be, 'born human.'

Jareth wove his voice into the music of the ballroom. The tilt of the suspended construct against the constant breeze of the high skies set in motion the lilting music that ever filled the created world. It kept those who had fallen under his spell within his power. The careful melody also blurred new minds to be more responsive to the angle of his voice against the notes.

It was a measured spell, perfected through the centuries. Jareth's voice added colour to the clear rhythm, binding thought to intent. The King melted through the crowds of dancers and bound-humans with ease. His confidence called to the enslaved ones especially, as his favor alone could set them free. No one had ever stood against the power of the bewitching melody.

Not even Sarah.

The Goblin King smiled into the song as the dancers parted to reveal their next mate. Her appearance should have pleased him. As with all of the Labyrinth's entrants, his body desired hers and he had dressed her with glamour accordingly. Soft violet wrapped her torso and legs to add sparkle to her grey eye and depth to her blue. He had given her gloves to match his own of deep indigo, bringing her costume so close to his own as to arouse rumours among any court - save the goblin.

The match _should_ have thrilled him, boosted his confidence even further than being bedecked in his own best glamour. The midnight jacket that draped his shoulders, leaving free bunches of white lace at chest and wrist complimented her violet. His pitch black breeches finished the circle of night colours - alongside her ebony hair. His own locks of pale gold became her moon. Jareth's suspicions of Eric's plans led him to believe that mirroring the goddess of the night would give him further power over his former ward's daughter.

He should have been completely in control.

Centuries of patience kept the Goblin King from disrupting the melody. Jareth's heart raced, a sensation he'd all but forgotten. The reason was plain.

Faryn stood under the only clock within the ballroom, her hands folded calmly against her belly, staring a frown at the time piece. There was a silver chain around her throat. The pendant flickered over her hands, somehow blurred to the point he could not discern its form.

He could feel another spell, like oil against his skin, as he neared the human girl. Had Calypso gotten to her first, wrapping some casting into her very person? No nix magic could pass the edges of the construct, he reminded himself. Even rebuilt as the bubble was, it was imperative to keep his magic within. Nothing could pass either way.

Jareth reacted as any nix in a battle of tune; the Goblin King raised his voice and sped the rhythm, pressing his casting against the rival spell. Something shattered in the space between, attacking his senses as shards of glass.

Yet the ballroom remained intact. Faryn did not flee, destroying the delicate constructed dream as her mother had. The melody continued, uncaring. The occupants danced on, unaware.

Faryn turned from the clock with its thirteen gleaming eyes, her countenance soft once more. She smiled, openly.

Gently.

Brilliantly.

The Goblin King silently admitted that he should never have brought the children of the Labyrinth's strongest stars to enter his Kingdom. And he should never have rested eyes on Faryn. He had been twice fooled by the innocence of that face.

The lady curtsied before him. From habit, he bent his torso in response. For habit, he took her hand and put his on her waist, sweeping them into the dance without hesitation. All the while, she held him in her eyes, smiling without falter.

"Well met, you majesty," She complimented his impeccable step with a glance. "But you look surprised," Faryn added.

The humour in her voice reminded the Goblin King of his purpose. One side of his mouth tilted up in a characteristic smirk. "With reason, dear lady; you surprised me."

Faryn's smile broadened, causing the Goblin King a shameful burst of pride. "Did my mother's victory teach you nothing?"

It was his turn to lavish her with a grin. "The Labyrinth and I have had ample time to forget that humiliation."

They wound between dazzling glamour-constructs and beatific fallen humans to the lilt of her laughter.

"Did you love her?" Faryn's features dimmed as she asked, changing the openness in her eyes from confident woman to desperate child. Jareth wanted to wipe that look away. 

The sudden internal strike at his gut, however, told him not to lie. "Not as much as I thought I did," his lips said without the permission of their ruler.

"So, is this also Sarah's dress," Faryn asked, quickly changing the subject. She seemed to have plastered a smile on her face that she desperately wanted to be true.

To honour her, Jareth took it as truth. "Her gown was meant to be rose," he corrected with a slight toss of his head. "Your own mimics the lilac."

The raven-haired beauty frowned, as though the flower explanations were given in another language entirely. "What's the difference?"

Jareth playfully spun her thrice about a confused dreaming couple, letting a simple smile sit on his lips. "Only the obvious," the Goblin King answered in all seriousness.

Faryn's lips twitched into a smirk she was heavily resisting. "Now," she directed with the air of royalty. "Pretend I'm not a nix and answer that again."

A flash of genuine smile crossed his face before he could control himself. Jareth briefly argued with himself that there was no reason to behave as the child he was portraying. The argument was wiped from his mind as his dancing lady widened her eyes and dipped her chin in askance. "Lilac blooms later than rose."

"Ah."

Time stood still as the king of the Labyrinth twirled his lady about his constructed dream. They spoke as easily as friends to melody after melody; an act Jareth found great comfort in. Aside from the goblins and the fallen ones, there were only the Lady Advisor of the Nixes Kingdoms and her entourage to talk to. No one to simply banter with. Faryn broke the spell by stating that she wanted to ask him something frank. If she had asked for his physical heart to sacrifice at an alter of her father's design, he would have given it to her.

Faryn locked his gaze, asking, "Why do you do this?"

Jareth offered a benign smirk, mocking himself. "It's an ancient ritual to lure and accept the sacrifice of a virgin. In that respect, the Labyrinth is a dragon and I am her bait." The Goblin King did not sigh in relief - he could not decide which question was more deadly.

He expected resistance, but Sarah's daughter only nodded. "This labyrinth lives on the souls of those that fail to solve it?"

They dodged the enthusiastic grace of a tired dream, reminded Jareth that time was against him, by his own rule. "No. There is only one Labyrinth and all of its faces are supported by your innocence and dreams. That benefit lays in not needing your failures." The King of the Labyrinth smiled as a proud parent, adding a secret against his better judgment. "Hope is more potent."

Faryn chuckled, twirling from his hand and back with the rhythm of the dance. "Then why not simply engender hope," she asked as if it were the most logical thing in the world. It was. But the Labyrinth was a vast and hungry child. Jareth did not stop the shrug of his shoulders as he answered. "It is easier to lure with a threat than a promise." "That's a bit backwards from where I lived."

The Goblin King was perplexed by her use of past tense, yet did not let it hinder his response. "More people will chase their siblings into dream than simply believe that they can have that dream."

The dark haired girl offered a faint smile, tossing her head to brush curls back across her shoulder. "I'm not most people."

This time, Jareth held his tongue as he mulled over her responses. He had not imagined it. She was offering exactly what she seemed to be. She danced with patience as he stared, drinking in her easy smile, and dark, dark curls.

Her face was Sarah's, but those eyes were pure Eric. For a moment, the Goblin King saw his ward's features over those of the woman who had beaten him. A stab of pain took him, suddenly, in the heart.

Faryn wanted to stay. Eric had wanted to stay.

Faryn had all of her father's potential and more. Her _father's_ potential.

She had beauty, grace, perfection. She could raise Jareth's status as Eric had - a reputation his ward had then destroyed.

Their similarities were a cruel reminder of his failure. A mistake he could not, would not, repeat.

Faryn frowned at the same time he came to his conclusion. Jareth said nothing, swirling and twirling them faster and faster though the construct. The blurred scenery behind Faryn changed with its King's will.

They spun to a stop in the middle of a cobblestone bridge. The orange sky replaced the lace and darkness of the dream. The dim forms of the Enchanted Forest and the Bog of Eternal Stench far below the wall beneath their feet took the place of the whirling dancers.

Ignoring her expression of shock, Jareth brought his hands to Faryn's shoulders. He had intended to shake sense into Sarah's daughter, but was stopped when she pushed her hands to his chest to hold him at bay.

Jareth did not want her afraid of him

The Goblin King wrapped his arms around the proclaimed Lorialet, pressing Faryn's head to his chest and his lips to her hair. Jareth held as tightly as he dared and still felt miles away from the human woman.

_Woman indeed_, he mocked himself. A slip of a human, not even two decades old, ruled him. It was unheard of.

Jareth didn't care.

"Finish this task you have set for yourself," The King of the Labyrinth encouraged. "Break Eric's spells. Come to my castle, but deny me when you arrive.

"Do not say the words I've seen in your eyes."

Faryn's fingers curled against the lace on his chest. She didn't seem inclined to move. "You've seen my world, Jareth," she whispered against his arm. "It's _nothing_ like this."

The Goblin King shook his head, bringing her scent into his nose. "Don't give up something you've only begun to understand."

"I didn't understand the bruises on my body or the blood of my dying mother," she snapped, pushing away from him.

Jareth didn't let her go. He relaxed his hold just far enough to look into her mismatched eyes.

Faryn struggled no farther. She looked hurt, and the expression affected the Goblin King more than he expected.

"Should I have wanted to explore those," the dark haired woman asked softly.

The arm around her shoulders moved of its own accord, bringing his knuckles to brush Faryn's entrancing hair from her more potent eyes. "No."

"What happens if I choose to stay?"

Jareth never got the chance to break an answer to her, as a scream beat him to it.


End file.
